Russian presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said on Friday some media sources misinterpreted his statement concerning foreign investment into Russia after a new jail term was handed to former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
In an online interview with Gazeta.ru earlier this week, Dvorkovich said that the attitude of foreign investors following the recent court trial over Khodorkovsky can be only assessed after the World Economic Forum in Davos and it might be negative.
"I believe that this does not comply with the professional level of a journalist. I do apologize to all of you and your colleagues. It was snatching of short phrases from long statements and it represents the point of view of a journalist and not of the interviewee," the Russian president's chief economic advisor said.
"I said that foreign investors might form a negative attitude after what has happened in the trial of Khodorkovsky and [Platon] Lebedev... I believe that most investors will continue working in Russia, will keep investing and there will be no negative impact on their work in Russia or their attitude," Dvorkovich added.
Khodorkovsky, 47, and his business partner Lebedev, 54, were sentenced to 14 years in jail after being found guilty of stealing from their former oil firm Yukos and laundering the proceeds in a politically tinged trial last month.
The two men had been nearing the end of their eight-year sentences for fraud and tax evasion from their 2005 trial and will remain behind bars for another six years.
The United States and European countries have lashed out at the verdict, voicing serious concerns of politicization.
MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti)
