Russian government sets sights on 'subversion'

"Paradoxical as it may sound, it is a task for Putin's allies, not his opponents, to set up a functioning opposition," Mr. Pavlovsky said. He warned that existing Russian opposition parties may be working with outside forces to engineer a Ukrainian-style revolution against Putin. "That would rob Russian rule of legitimacy, while the decision-making center would shift to another force - one outside Russia," he said. "No one wants an opposition like that."

Experts say the Kremlin recently added several tough amendments to the draft electoral law to control the way media outlets cover elections.

According to the version passed by the Duma, journalists and editors will be held legally accountable for any false or unverified information, even if they have reprinted it from another source, such as a wire service. "This is a very dangerous law," says Andrei Kolesnikov, deputy editor of Izvestia, one of Russia's largest daily newspapers. "It will enable bureaucrats to take control over the media, especially newspapers."

During Putin's first term the Kremlin squeezed out independent TV networks, but largely left print alone. "Now the authorities are showing an interest in newspapers. The trend is to over-regulate everything; and it's a very bad trend," says Mr. Kolesnikov.

MOSCOW - Oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, is headed for a labor camp until 2012 after being sentenced Tuesday on six counts of fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement.

The announcement caps a marathon 12-day session of Moscow's Meshchansky Court. The tedious point-by-point reading of the telephone book-sized judgment inspired a walkout by defense lawyers and led to quips that Mr. Khodorkovsky was condemned to "10 years of hearing his verdict read."

The nine-year sentence meted out to Khodorkovsky and his codefendant Platon Lebedev - minus time already served in detention - has experts warning that the dire political and economic fallout of the two-year-old "Khodorkovsky Affair" may now be irreversible.

"I had hoped until the very end that our leaders would put the country's interests first," says Vladimir Ryzhkov, an independent Duma deputy. "I fear this will lead to a wave of similar trials in the provinces. The message [to private business] is: sell and run away."

The signal to independent political actors is similar, says Vladimir Pozner, a leading TV commentator. "This verdict had very little to do with justice. It was a politically motivated case, based on [President Vladimir] Putin's dislike for Khodorkovsky and wish to eliminate what he saw as a political threat."

Since Khodorkovsky's arrest in October 2003, the oil company he founded, Yukos, has been torn apart by astronomically high back-tax bills, and its most productive units have been renationalized.

Russia's economic growth has slowed, capital flight has spiraled, and some foreign companies have backed off investment plans citing uncertainties provoked by the Yukos case.

Khodorkovsky's law- yers allege the case was marked by violations of judicial process. They plan to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, in addition to seeking redress through the Russian system.

Irina Khakamada, a leading liberal politician, says the outcome "proves that there is no independent court system in Russia.... What we have is an all-powerful General Prosecutor, which serves only the interests of our new Kremlin oligarchs."

But Natalya Vishnyakova, a spokewoman for Russia's Prosecutor, hailed the verdict as fair and objective. "It matches the actual circumstances of the case and the gravity of the crimes committed," she said.

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