Mikhail Khodorkovsky is to be freed. After more than a decade dumped in the gulag for daring to challenge Vladimir Putin’s authority, the former head of the Yukos oil company is to be granted a presidential pardon. It would be a mistake to see this as change of heart in the Kremlin. More likely, as with the amnesty proposed for jailed Greenpeace activists and the Pussy Riot female punk band, it was the calculated gesture of an autocrat who sees advantage in occasional acts of supposed generosity.
米哈伊爾•霍杜爾科夫斯基(Mikhail Khodorkovsky)即將獲釋（據最新訊息，霍杜爾科夫斯基已獲釋並前往德國——譯者注）。這位尤科斯(Yukos)石油公司前老闆由於膽敢挑戰弗拉迪米爾•普丁(Vladimir Putin)的權威而身陷囹圄逾10年，如今獲得總統特赦。如果因此以爲克里姆林宮已回心轉意，那可想錯了。更大的可能是，和赦免被關押的綠色和平組織(Greenpeace)社運人士和Pussy Riot女子朋克樂隊的提議一樣，這是一個威權者經過精心盤算而擺出的姿態。這位威權者認識到，偶爾做出一些貌似大度的動作是有好處的。