Robert Amsterdam

Now let’s look at another translation of this same Putin quote, this one in an article from Reuters entitled “Putin: Medvedev to decide on oil tycoon's pardon”. Here, Putin is quoted as saying “If we suppose that the procedure required by law is observed, then the question of pardoning is in the competence of the head of state, the president of the Russian Federation.” Reuters even went so far as to interpret this statement as Putin essentially saying “that it would be up to his successor Dmitry Medvedev to decide whether to pardon … Mikhail Khodorkovsky.”

Now this translation is a little different from the first one. Here, instead of stating a fact about a legal procedure, as in the RIA Novosti quote, Putin is only making a supposition that IF a certain legal procedure is observed, THEN the question of a pardon would by law be in the hands of the president. But again, he isn’t making any promises, he is merely describing a theoretical possibility, and this time around it’s even become hypothetical, dependent on the supposition of a certain procedure required by law being observed. In other words, he distinctly leaves open the possibility that this legally required procedure may NOT be followed.

Which brings us to our own exclusive translation of Putin’s carefully chosen enigmatic words. Here is the full citation: “Now as concerns persons convicted in previous years for committed crimes — for corruption, for crimes against the person. One of these figurants you mentioned. But if one just imagines to oneself that the procedure envisioned by the legislation of the Russian Federation will be adhered to, the question of pardon is found in the competence of the head of state — the president of the Russian Federation.”

Note that Putin still refuses to let the cursed name of Khodorkovsky to pass his lips. And note also that the words he actually uses are not Novosti’s “in line with”, or Reuters’s “if we suppose”, but “if one just imagines to oneself”. Okay, imagine, if you will, a Russia in which “the procedure envisioned by the legislation of the Russian Federation will be adhered to”. Having a hard time imagining it? You’re not the only one!

There is no question whatsoever that Putin’s answer to the journalist’s question about a possible pardon for Khodorkovsky was very carefully crafted, scientifically designed to say exactly the opposite of what it appears to say. Those who see it as an ever-so-tiny light at the end of the tunnel are severely mistaken. What Putin actually says is that there isn’t even the slightest chance of a pardon for Khodorkovsky. Not “if one could imagine the law being adhered to, then the president would pardon Khodorkovsky.” No, Putin merely says that if only one could imagine the law being adhered to… only in that (highly unlikely) situation does the question of a pardon even fall into the competence of the head of state – who, of course, still retains the right to answer this question any way he chooses, and is not obliged to pardon anyone.