Jan 15, 2011 19:11 Moscow Time

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/01/15/39862867.html

Russia’s parliamentary Speaker Boris Gryzlov has described as pressure the attempts by some European Parliament deputies to introduce sanctions against Russian officials who participated in bringing in a verdict for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev.

On December 30th a Moscow court found the two tycoons guilty of embezzlement and money-laundering.

As the 14-year sentence handed down by the judges includes the seven years they have spent in jail on previous charges, the convicted may get out of prison in 2017.

Speaking on Rossiya Television Boris Gryzlov made it clear that Khodorkovsky was convicted not for his political activities but on purely criminal charges for financial fraud.