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| Mikhail Khodorkovsky |
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed oil tycoon, is to be pardoned by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, a surprise decision that will let a major rival who was formerly Russia's richest man out of prison after more than a decade.
The move, along with an amnesty for the two jailed members of the Pussy Riot punk band and the 30-member crew of a Greenpeace ship, appears designed to assuage international criticism of Russia's rights record ahead of February's Winter Olympics in Sochi, Putin's pet project.
Mr Putin waited until just after his tightly choreographed annual news conference to make the announcement, dropping the biggest news of the day after journalists had already peppered him with questions, including one about Khodorkovsky's fate, in a four-hour marathon.
He said Khodorkovsky, who still has eight months left to serve of a 10-year jail sentence, would be pardoned soon. » | Roland Oliphant, Moscow and Chris Irvine | Thursday, December 19, 2013
