RUSSIAS'S GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS - Term Paper Example

ts to demonstrate how political corruption impacts the judiciary and individual human rights in a transitioning state by drawing on the details of the Yukos company trials. Gorbachev’s new Russian economy gave way to several conglomerates known as the Financial-Industrial Groups (FIGs).4 The FIGs were engaged in the privatizing the Soviet Union’s economy.5 The Menatep Group, founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky was one of these business conglomerates.6 By the middle of the 1990s the Russian government made a decision to divest itself of its holdings in Yukos, an oil production company.

7 Menatep obtained government approval for the purchase of Yukos and together with a number of commercial banks, individuals and companies placed a bid for 78 percent of Yokus’ shares.8 As a result of these efforts, Group Menatep which was controlled by Khodorkovsky was able to acquire Yukos for a sum equivalent to US$300M.9 By 1997, Menatep owned approximately 85 percent of Yukos’ share holdings.10 By the year 2001, Yukos had earned its place among the echelons of Russian oil industries as a giant, and was similarly recognized globally as a one of the world’s top private oil companies.

11 With Mikhail Khodorkovsky at the helm, Yukos established a reputation for best global practices which included elements of transparency, efficiency, performance, valuable shareholdings and sound corporate governance.12 Political changes were taking place that would ultimately have a role to play in the Yukos trials that followed. When Vladamir Putin took office as Russia’s president successor to Boris Yeltsin, the colour of government-commercial relations would shift somewhat. Those changes would be reflected in Putin’s desire to restore the state’s power, despite his public manifestations of support for democratic evolution.

13 Ultimately, Putin was predisposed to the adaptation of twin policies, the revival of the Russian economy and the strengthening of state power.14