In a written interview with UK's The Sunday Telegraph, jailed Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky suggested that the UK authorities put visa pressure on Russian officials. Answering the question whether the UK should deny entry permission to Vladimir Putin during the Olympics in London, Khodorkovsky said: “It will be very difficult for the British government to ban any head of state from coming to the Olympics, especially if this state is a member of the Big Eight and the Council of Europe.” However, he added that “the British government could do something to emphasize the importance of human rights while hosting the Olympics." Khodorkovsky added, "In June 2011 one of the Russian opposition leaders Garry Kasparov presented the US House of Representatives with a list of people involved in human rights abuses, and I would call on the British government to pay extra attention to Kasparov’s list and compare it to the list of the Russian delegation members who are set to visit London in 2012.”
The Sunday Telegraph supplemented the interview with the following comment: "In a letter passed to The Sunday Telegraph from his prison cell, Mr Khodorkovsky urged a ban on 308 officials including high-profile figures such as Russian deputy prime minister Vladislav Surkov, youth leader Vasily Yakemenko and controversial elections chief Vladimir Churov."
The interpretation of the statement became the subject of heated debate. Khodorkovsky's attorney Yury Schmidt said in a radio interview: "I am absolutely convinced that Khodorkovsky could not compile such a list. It's some kind of intentional error or an overt provocation.” In response, the author of the original article Tom Parfitt explained in another radio interview: “The fact that Khodorkovsky referred to Garry Kasparov’s list of 308 Russian officials involved in human rights violation and urged the British government to compare it to the list of Russian delegation members invited to the Olympics in London gave me a reason to assert that he’d want Britain to ban them from visiting the Olympics.” In turn, RT, a Russian-government-funded TV, published on its web site an article entitled "British journo 'twisted Khodorkovsky’s words in made-up letter.’" RT explained: "The journalist admitted that his newspaper did not receive any message from the imprisoned ex-head of Yukos, and that Khodorkovsky was only interviewed by the newspaper in written form." RT added that according to Khodorkovsky's lawyers, Parfitt "misrepresented Khodorkovsky’s words."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/9292293/From-jail-cell-Mikhail-Khodorkovsky-urges-Britain-to-ban-senior-Russian-officials-from-Olympics.html
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/khodorkovsky-lawyers-deny-report-that-tycoon-asked-for-olympic-visa-ban/459314.html
http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/british-journo-misinterpreted-khodorkovsky-ban-officials-383/
The Sunday Telegraph supplemented the interview with the following comment: "In a letter passed to The Sunday Telegraph from his prison cell, Mr Khodorkovsky urged a ban on 308 officials including high-profile figures such as Russian deputy prime minister Vladislav Surkov, youth leader Vasily Yakemenko and controversial elections chief Vladimir Churov."
The interpretation of the statement became the subject of heated debate. Khodorkovsky's attorney Yury Schmidt said in a radio interview: "I am absolutely convinced that Khodorkovsky could not compile such a list. It's some kind of intentional error or an overt provocation.” In response, the author of the original article Tom Parfitt explained in another radio interview: “The fact that Khodorkovsky referred to Garry Kasparov’s list of 308 Russian officials involved in human rights violation and urged the British government to compare it to the list of Russian delegation members invited to the Olympics in London gave me a reason to assert that he’d want Britain to ban them from visiting the Olympics.” In turn, RT, a Russian-government-funded TV, published on its web site an article entitled "British journo 'twisted Khodorkovsky’s words in made-up letter.’" RT explained: "The journalist admitted that his newspaper did not receive any message from the imprisoned ex-head of Yukos, and that Khodorkovsky was only interviewed by the newspaper in written form." RT added that according to Khodorkovsky's lawyers, Parfitt "misrepresented Khodorkovsky’s words."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/9292293/From-jail-cell-Mikhail-Khodorkovsky-urges-Britain-to-ban-senior-Russian-officials-from-Olympics.html
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/khodorkovsky-lawyers-deny-report-that-tycoon-asked-for-olympic-visa-ban/459314.html
http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/british-journo-misinterpreted-khodorkovsky-ban-officials-383/
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