Moscow, 14 August: The former head of the Yukos oil company is not intending to submit a petition for pardon because he does not consider himself to be guilty of the crimes for which he has been convicted.

"For the time being, all of my efforts are concentrated on achieving a legal and objective verdict in the case which is being considered at present in Khamovnicheskiy Court. To admit guilt in non-existent crimes is unacceptable for me. Time will tell the rest," Mikhail Khodorkovskiy said in an interview with the Russian Newsweek magazine, which will be published this coming Monday (17 August).

The ex-head of Yukos gave this answer to the question whether he could imagine the situation in which he would submit a petition for pardon.

At the same time, Khodorkovskiy expressed the opinion that the Yukos case "was created and is continuing thanks to very many individuals". "And at present bureaucracy that is not even of the upper echelon is moving most of the case," he said.

To a question about his attitude towards Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Khodorkovskiy said: "I think that Dmitriy Medvedev undoubtedly differs from Vladimir Putin but at the same time I do not have any doubts that the current president is completely loyal to the previous one. Can he pursue his own policy, does he consider this necessary for himself? These are questions to which I do not yet have the answers."

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