Putin's October Revolution.

This article presents information on some recent political developments in Russia. It is informed that in the month of October 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled the beginning of the "October revolution" with the arrest of the country's richest man, oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky, on charges of fraud and tax evasion. The arrest rocked domestic stock indices which fell by 15 percent. The Russian authorities followed up on Khodorkovsky's arrest by freezing 44 percent of the assets he and his associates controlled in the giant Yukos energy firm. It is also informed that on October 10, 2003, Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma, passed the first reading of a bill on compulsory military training at schools and professional colleges.