Sochi Olympics, a PR stunt, a response to calls within society, or even a mistake: RT spoke with analysts to find out possible reasons behind Putin’s decision to pardon Khodorkovsky – and its likely consequences. In a surprise move, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he would sign a pardon for jailed former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The oil tycoon was arrested in 2003... 

Kremlin's human rights council, Mikhail Fedotov (photo), said the report was "propaganda material". Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are the three European countries with the worst record on human rights in 2010, the U.S. State Department said in an annual survey released Friday. The survey, “2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,” covered 194 countries worldwide, excluding... 

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, left, and his co-defendant Platon Lebedev, right, talk behind a glass enclosure at a court room in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010. Khodorkovsky, 47, is in the final year of an eight-year sentence after being convicted of tax evasion, and the new conviction on charges of embezzlement and money laundering could keep him behind bars for several more years. A judge read the...