THE END OF RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY? The sentence of Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky this week is a tragedy that signals Russia’s political corruption. “The arrest and sentencing of Khodorkovsky made it possible to complete the transformation of Russia into a controlled society with a permanent political leadership and a president for life (Putin). It is for this reason that Putin not only hates Khodorkovsky but, to a degree, fears him. Putin cannot abide the implicit challenge that Khodorkovsky at liberty would represent.”