Whichever side you are on, the trial of the Yukos chief is an argument about the legitimacy of power in a Russia riven by class conflict, writes CARL MORTISHED There are two views about the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which begins next week in Moscow. Outside Russia, it is a Stalinist show trial, a blast of cold air from the past, but within the country, the prosecution of the Yukos chief for tax evasion is more often seen as the come-uppance of a rich swindler. The Khodorkovsky affair has become a great trough from which Russian and Russophile pundits feast regularly, but the debate is more than sterile politics. It is an argument about the legitimacy of power in a country riven by class conflict. In Russia, there are nobles and peasants, still. There are those who govern, who wield power whether political or economic, and there are the rest. They are the workforce of state industries; lowly bureaucrats, ill-paid teachers and anyone else trying to live on a government wage. They are those who failed to run and grab when Boris Yeltsin, the former president, sold the state's assets for peppercorns. Privileged Russians view the mass of their compatriots with a thinly veiled contempt. That contempt is breathtaking to behold. At a recent seminar on the Khodorkovsky affair, a speaker from a renowned London institute devoted to Russian and East European studies dismissed the recent poll that elected President Putin by a huge majority. His supporters, the bureaucrats and state workers were described as 'parasites'. Nevertheless, the parasites won and are now, presumably, feasting on the body of the imprisoned oil tycoon. The President has seen off the political challenge from the owners of capital by wielding the most powerful weapon of all: the ballot box. For a former Communist, opposing pro-US liberals, President Putin must savour a delicious irony. However, this leaves foreign investors with a dilemma. Will they find themselves caught in no-man's land in a war between the Tsar and the new capitalist boyars? Generally, when multinationals invest in emerging markets, the politics is simple. A meeting with the president secures a deal, a licence to drill wells. But admission to the club of Russian capitalism requires that investors dine at the oligarch's table, too. Hence the deal struck between BP and Mikhail Fridman, the owner of Alfa Group. So, there is endless hand-wringing among foreign investors about the rule of law or lack thereof in Russia – will the courts enforce my contract or is the judge in the pocket of my Russian partner? Will the tax police squeeze me for an extra million? Unfortunately, the reality is probably a little more simple. There is law in Russia among those with the power to make the rules. Everyone else must duck and dive. Khodorkovsky's problem arose because he was among those who made the rules. He was of the nobility, an arriviste like all the oligarchs but no less influential for that. He aired his views as he dispensed funds and favours. He bought a newspaper. He was not just rich, he was of the intelligentsia. It's no accident that the word is of Russian origin. In Britain, we poke fun at the chattering classes. In Russia, they rule, or at least they act like they do. An astute politician, Putin recognised a power base when he saw one and offered the tycoons a deal: do business and I will leave you in peace but stay out of politics. We know how Mikhail Borisovich broke the deal, funding political parties, influencing legislation. Even as the Kremlin's tax police launched their raids on his office, the Yukos chief seemed oblivious to the danger, demanding respect for the rule of law. Which law was he thinking of? Was he thinking of the Russian taxes that Yukos cleverly avoided, funnelling half the company's oil revenues through special purpose vehicles in tax-sheltered enterprise zones? Talk to Russian lawyers about tax in the 1990s and they will tell you a strange tale of massive evasion. No one paid all the tax they owed – there were special deals, negotiations with the authorities. By all accounts Yukos did better than most, until now. The Kremlin's parasites are having their day in the sun. The oil price is high and the Russian stock market seems oblivious of the Khodorkovsky trial. President Putin is enjoying a holiday. It will not last and the multinationals know it. They need to establish their power and build alliances that will not be swept away when Russia's ruling class suddenly changes the rules. - The Times, London.