KHORDORKOVSKY CASE REMINDS US THAT RUSSIA IS A DANGEROUS PLACE TO DO BUSINESS

Amid all the celebration over the Pardon of Mikhail Khordorkovsky, let us not forget that he spent a decade in harsh Russian prisons, mainly in Siberia, on what were obviously political charges. He was selectively prosecuted because he was deemed a threat to the existing leadership in Russia. Remember that when you calculate Country Risk levels for Russia, when you decide whether to advise a client to invest there, and when you send someone into Russia, for any business purpose, for they may agitate your competition, or the government, and end up with assets confiscated, or worse, incarcerated on trumped-up charges.