Russia rejects criticism of Khodorkovsky's trial

Launched the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday back in the U.S. and European criticism of the second sentence of imprisonment of oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said Western leaders to their own affairs to interfere - MOSCOW (AFP).

Khodorkovsky was convicted, the billionaire oligarch who is a challenge to Vladimir Putin early in his presidency, on Monday to steal oil from his own company and the laundering of the proceeds.

Led U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chorus of political figures in the United States and Europe in condemning the decision, saying that "serious questions about the selectivity and prosecution of law is dominated by political considerations."

The Russian Foreign Ministry claims baseless and accused the West of trying to put pressure on the job.

"We expect everyone to mind their own - at home and in the international arena," said a ministry statement.

Sentence, expected to be announced before the end of the week, probably to keep Khodorkovsky behind bars for several years. The judge on Tuesday continued his rule, a summary of a long trial in 20 months to read.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the case against Khodorkovsky and his partner Platon Lebedev involved serious allegations of tax evasion and money laundering, crimes punishable by law in each country.

"In the U.S., by the way people sentenced to life imprisonment for such crimes," said a ministry statement.

This was repeated a recent statement by Putin, the current prime minister, that Khodorkovsky's punishment was less severe than the 150-year prison sentence issued in the United States funded shame Bernard Madoff, who duped thousands of investors losses estimated at $ 20 billion.

"Everything seems to be more liberal here," said Putin.

Khodorkovsky's nearing the end of eight years in prison after being convicted of tax evasion in a case seen as a punishment for challenging the authority of the Kremlin's economic and political, in part, by funding opposition parties in parliament.

Putin, who was president at the time and was the driving force behind the attack on Khodorkovsky's legal, does not preclude a return to the presidency in 2012. He does not seem prepared for the possibility that free Khodorkovsky could help to unite and lead his political opponents risk.

The White House said it was moved by what seemed to be "the abuse of the legal system for the purpose of an inappropriate" and said the ruling may hurt Russia to relations with the United States improve.

I have worked on the Obama administration relations, "reset" with Russia in the era of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who promised to strengthen the rule of law, as part of its mission to modernize Russia and to increase foreign investment. But Khodorkovsky's conviction shows how little has changed in Russia since Putin Medvedev managed more than two years.