Former PM reacts to release of Russian tycoon Khodorkovsky
- 11 years ago
The media have flocked to Hotel Adlon in Berlin.
That's where former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is thought to be.
He was jailed for a decade in Russian prisons for challenging President Vladimir Putin.
But on Friday, Khodorkovsky was unexpectedly freed by a Presidential pardon from Putin himself.
He hastily flew to Germany to reunite with family, and on Saturday, gave his first interview since his release to a Russian magazine which published these photos.
In Moscow, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov - a prominent opposition leader -- thinks the secretive nature of the prison release was likely Putin's idea.
(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FORMER RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER MIKHAIL KASYANOV, SAYING:
"He flew to Germany immediately, without even traveling to St.Petersburg or Moscow, to his home….It means he is in a forced political emigration. How long will it last for? We have to see how the situation develops."
Kasyanov thinks the release
That's where former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is thought to be.
He was jailed for a decade in Russian prisons for challenging President Vladimir Putin.
But on Friday, Khodorkovsky was unexpectedly freed by a Presidential pardon from Putin himself.
He hastily flew to Germany to reunite with family, and on Saturday, gave his first interview since his release to a Russian magazine which published these photos.
In Moscow, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov - a prominent opposition leader -- thinks the secretive nature of the prison release was likely Putin's idea.
(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) FORMER RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER MIKHAIL KASYANOV, SAYING:
"He flew to Germany immediately, without even traveling to St.Petersburg or Moscow, to his home….It means he is in a forced political emigration. How long will it last for? We have to see how the situation develops."
Kasyanov thinks the release