The Russian government is acutely aware of this line of reasoning, and on Saturday relaunched a party, Right Cause, which is meant to capture the aspirations of liberals and small businessmen disenchanted with United Russia, the political party Mr. Putin leads.
"I hope it is his own wish, not a proposition to play the role of a spoiler," said Andrei Dunayev, a leader of Right Cause.
But it's a nice place and they're good souls and what the hell, it's a good cause, right?" "What," I said, "are you talking about?
Leonid Gozman, a leader of the Right Cause, a liberal political party with ties to the Kremlin, said he was struck by the contrast between how Mr. Medvedev and President Obama had handled disparaging comments by subordinates.
The state-controlled television station NTV broadcast an exposé on Friday linking a member of Right Cause to organized crime, and government news outlets simply ignored Mr. Prokhorov's plea to fire the official he blamed for his ouster.
When Prokhorov refused, Surkov organized a coup within Right Cause and had him voted out of power.
"I expected a guilty verdict, but I didn't expect such a tough sentence," said Leonid Y . Gozman co-chairman of Right Cause, a liberal party with close ties to the Kremlin.
He spent weeks in a medically induced coma and regained consciousness only a few days ago, said Leonid Gozman, a national leader of Right Cause.
Besides Mr. Khodorkovsky, there was Yevgeny Chichvarkin, the owner of a chain of mobile phone stores, who mulled a leadership role in Right Cause before fleeing to Britain in 2008, claiming political persecution.
From its remains, the Kremlin created a new party, the Right Cause.
