Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s wealthiest oil baron, is no saint. He could not have survived in the free-for-all exploitation and seizure of Russian state assets in the 1990s if he were. But when he was arrested in 2003, charged with large-scale theft, fraud and tax evasion, and jailed for eight years in Siberia, it shook the western world, and foreign investors in particular. It was the first big move by Vladimir Putin, Russia’s increasingly assertive president, to reimpose the power of the Kremlin over the economy – especially the energy sector – after the chaotic rule of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin.

Today Mr Khodorkovsky is languishing in his Siberian prison, facing new charges of embezzlement that could see him condemned to a further 22 years. He is on hunger strike to champion the cause of one of his fellow incarcerated oil company executives who has been denied proper treatment for Aids. Few Russians will have much sympathy: they resent the massive wealth of the oligarchs, and they appreciate the political stability that Mr Putin has brought back, combined with oil-fired prosperity.