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Commenting on the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the President said that only a court can decide this issue, and that everyone is equal before the courts and the law. This equality before the law is essential if Russia is to operate an effective taxation system.

Mr Putin instructed the government and the Presidential Administration to develop a special system for fighting corruption on the lines of the systems other countries have put into place. The President admitted that much still has to be done to improve law enforcement work. But the country has already adopted a democratic and legally regulated system of taking decisions in the criminal law sphere.