What is behind the arrest of Russia’s top independent television mogul, Vladimir Gusinsky? Will other influential tycoons also come under threat?

[snip] Who, or what, will be next? If the main target is out-of-favour oligarchs, rather than civil liberties as such, a leading candidate would be Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow. He was a chum of Mr Gusinsky’s, and once the strongest challenger to the Kremlin’s grip on power and money in Russia. The state-run media gave him a pounding before the general election last December, alleging murder, corruption, fraud, links to Scientology and so on. Since then, the central government has sacked several of his top officials. His municipal empire has been hacked back, although it still remains the biggest business in the city. Still, after grovelling to Mr Putin, Mr Luzhkov retrieved enough favour to accompany the president on a trip to Italy last week. But by comparing Mr Gusinsky’s arrest to Stalin’s terror in the 1930s, Mr Luzhkov may soon be heading back to the Kremlin’s doghouse.

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