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?霍多爾科夫斯基(Mikhail Khodorkovsky)即將獲釋（據(jù)最新消息，霍多爾科夫斯基已獲釋并前往德國——譯者注）。這位尤科斯(Yukos)石油公司前老板由于膽敢挑戰(zhàn)弗拉基米爾?普京(Vladimir Putin)的權(quán)威而身陷囹圄逾10年，如今獲得總統(tǒng)特赦。如果因此以為克里姆林宮已回心轉(zhuǎn)意，那可想錯(cuò)了。更大的可能是，和赦免被關(guān)押的綠色和平組織(Greenpeace)活動(dòng)人士和Pussy Riot女子朋克樂隊(duì)的提議一樣，這是一個(gè)威權(quán)者經(jīng)過精心盤算而擺出的姿態(tài)。這位威權(quán)者認(rèn)識(shí)到，偶爾做出一些貌似大度的動(dòng)作是有好處的。