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Mikhail Khodorkovsky speaks during his first news conference after his release in Berlin earlier today. Michael Sohn/AP/Press Association Images

'A fight for power is not for me': Putin foe Khodorkovsky vows to stay away from Russia

The Kremlin critic surfaced in Germany hours after his release on Friday from a prison in an obscure corner of northern Russia, following a surprise pardon by President Vladimir Putin.

RUSSIA’S FORMER OIL tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has said that he will stay away from his homeland but help to free Russian political prisoners still behind bars after walking free from a decade in jail.

In an astonishing turn of events, the Kremlin critic surfaced in Germany hours after his release on Friday from a prison in an obscure corner of northern Russia, following a pardon by President Vladimir Putin.

Mobbed by reporters at his first news conference in Berlin barely two days since leaving jail, Khodorkovsky admitted he had been given no choice over his final destination and thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for aiding his liberation.

Khodorkovsky, formerly Russia’s richest man, said he had no intention of becoming involved in Russian politics and could not return to the country so long as a court order for him to pay $550 million in damages was still in place.

“A fight for power is not for me,” said Khodorkovsky, wearing a sharp business suit but almost shaven-headed, at the news conference held in the Berlin Wall museum at the symbolic Cold War location of Checkpoint Charlie.

He said he would focus his energies on helping political prisoners walk out of Russian jails. “I will do everything so that there are none left, do everything I can.”

He added that Western governments should “remember I am not the last political prisoner in Russia,” adding it would be wrong if he was seen as a “symbol” that there were no longer political prisoners in his country.

Rights groups are still seeking to secure the release of around a dozen protesters arrested for their role in a 2012 rally on the eve of Putin’s inauguration for a third term, who many see as political prisoners.

Khodorkovsky’s co-accused, business partner and friend Platon Lebedev also remains incarcerated.

Facts unknown

He said he could only return to Russia if the Supreme Court lifted the lawsuit claiming the $550 million in damages. The existence of the claim meant that if he ever returned there was no “guarantee” he would ever be allowed to leave Russia.

The former chief executive and founder of the Yukos oil giant said he had no plans to go back into business but had enough means to live on.

But he said had had “no choice” over his final destination after his release, which began on Friday morning when he was awoken at 2am by the head of his prison colony in Segezha in Karelia.

He said it was only clear he was heading to Germany when the doors closed of the private jet laid on by Genscher which took him out of Russia. “Many facts of my release are still unknown to me,” said Khodorkovsky.

Asked about his relationship with Putin, Khodorkovsky refused to be drawn into expressing hatred towards the Russian strongman who the former tycoon’s supporters accuse of ordering his two trials and convictions to eliminate a potentially dangerous opponent.

At the time of his arrest in 2003, Khodorkovsky was openly critical of Putin and had begun financing the Russian opposition.

But he said that while he had been treated harshly, “my family had never been touched” and as a result he was able to view relations with Putin with “pragmatism which does not foresee such unpragmatic things like revenge, hatred and so on.”

Khodorkovsky said he was against a boycott of the Sochi Olympics in February 2014, noting a “festival of sport should not be spoilt”. But he acknowledged it should not become a “festival of Vladimir Putin”.

Widely seen as Russia’s most famous post-Soviet inmate, Khodorkovsky was jailed for financial crimes in separate convictions in 2005 and 2010. He had been due for release in August 2014.

- © AFP, 2013

READ: Putin foe Khodorkovsky released after 10 years in jail

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    Mute The Guru
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    Feb 5th 2017, 7:26 AM

    Typical of this inept government. Tinkering around the edges with policies that cost a lot and deliver very little.

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    Mute Trisha Tully
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    Feb 5th 2017, 9:34 AM

    They had many debates about this in the Dail bar.

    136
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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:00 AM

    Are they going to set an example and ban drinking while they’re working in the Dail. . If one of us was drinking on the job we’d be sacked ..

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    Mute joe o hare
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:59 AM

    @Suzie Sunshine: That is a scurrilous remark and I want you to withdraw it, unless you can show evidence of any TDs working in the dail

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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Feb 5th 2017, 11:24 AM

    Joe..I burst out laughing when I read your comment.!

    33
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    Mute Trisha Tully
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    Feb 6th 2017, 8:36 AM

    So did I Suzie Sunshine.

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    Mute Ciaran Peavoy
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    Feb 5th 2017, 7:51 AM

    We can go as far as banning advertising completely and it will make little difference, it’s our attitude to alcohol we need to change in this country. Most of us are guilty of having a bad attitude towards it and it’s passed down from generation to generation. We need stricter laws that stop the sale of alcohol to those who are already drunk, to those who sell or buy alcohol for minors.

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    Mute Pauliebhoy
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    Feb 5th 2017, 8:42 AM

    And at what level is someone drunk?

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    Mute Ciaran Peavoy
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:29 AM

    When they cannot string a sentence together or stand up straight.

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    Mute John Scott
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    Feb 5th 2017, 8:54 AM

    Leo not a word about the cheap drink that all the TDs seem to have a given right . Fail Bar, not a word. So more do as I say not as I do.

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    Mute Fionn Bohane
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    Feb 5th 2017, 7:44 AM

    Banning alcohol sponsorship in sport is risky business , look what happened snooker and its prize no.ey when cigarettes advertising went away. Instead of imposing regulations, could they not just educate kids on the importance of responsible drinking? They never come up with new or outside of the box ideas. Regulate and tax is all we get from them.

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    Mute Larry O'Doherty
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    Feb 5th 2017, 8:43 AM

    Need a drink after the length of that article!

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    Mute Charles Coughlan
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    Feb 5th 2017, 8:09 AM

    The government’s actions will definitely result in increased revenue for the government and increased taxes for the rest of us.

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    Mute TellingItAsItIs
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:04 AM

    But what about the ban on gambling advertising!? Our sneakiest sickness.

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    Mute Gerry Ryan
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    Feb 5th 2017, 4:45 PM

    Or a tax on betting

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    Mute TellingItAsItIs
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    Feb 5th 2017, 11:35 PM

    That wouldn’t work. Kids will still be seduced by the sexy betting ads. Paddy Power etc are masters at selling gambling as fun n hip.

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    Mute mickmc
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    Feb 5th 2017, 8:22 AM

    You could argue that hiding alcohol away, not having it in your face will leave it a mystery product to the youth. Something to be tried at the first opportunity and let’s face it, it readily available in a lot of home. As far as I know there is not such a problem in France, Spain Portugal etc where they alcohol is more socially accepted. Children are allowed drink from an earlier age and thus you have to sneak around doing it in fields etc.

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    Mute Patrick
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    Feb 5th 2017, 7:55 AM

    Every time a child plays sport they see drink advertising if their local club has a bar. Are they going to close those or remove all advertising? Would it not be smarter that the advertising companies should pay for the pro players to go round the schools to young kids and teach them to play sports and be healthy and responsible.

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    Mute John Considine
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    Feb 5th 2017, 8:05 AM

    @Patrick, why would an advertising company do that?

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    Mute Patrick
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    Feb 5th 2017, 8:09 AM

    Well if you offer the advertising company to choose between losing baord space and paying a premium for hotzones or to pay for a campaign as I stated, which one do you think they would choose?

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    Mute bings
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:03 AM

    @Patrick: The gov couldn’t allow advertising companies to pay pro players to go to schools to teach kids & teenagers to play sports as the gov are not pro players. They couldn’t claim this idea back on expenses or get more tax from the pro players. This gov are only interested in themselves.

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    Mute Niall O D
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:04 AM

    the advertising and drinks industry are already doing this with their farcical drink aware campaign, another government backed scheme where they give the drinks industry itself free reign on how to tell people how to drink ‘responsibly’. that was always going to end up being the monumental success it is now.

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    Mute Patrick
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:39 AM

    @Niall O D drinkaware is not the same. It does not target young people specifically.(under 18-21) What the government are asking is not workable and will cost investment in sport and could increase cost to business. Positive role models are needed in alot of homes that do not have any. I still see teenagers smoking.What ad influenced them? Education and changing atttitude is the answer.

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    Mute tommy dunne
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    Feb 5th 2017, 3:39 PM

    Will they stop people watching bbc where drink is advertised

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    Mute Michael Clinton
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:00 AM

    Pure joke , lead by example and get rid of the dail bar. How can anybody take them seriously when they are making decisions that affect the lives of everyone in Ireland while they have a use the subsidised bar.

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    Mute Charley Brady
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:33 AM

    @Michael Clinton: Beat me to it, Michael. I would imagine that there has been a great deal of alcohol-related harm done to the country by TDs making decisions whilst under the influence in a place of ‘work’. If they’re in any way serious — and of course, they’re not, this is just another distraction — then let them get their own subsidised house in order first.

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    Mute James
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    Feb 5th 2017, 1:52 PM

    They should also remove the law which allows TD to drive drunk as long as they’re on their way to the Dail. A Dr’s not allowed to get away with it neither should they.

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    Mute Neal, not Neil.
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    Feb 5th 2017, 7:42 AM

    Once again, only the privileged well-off will be allowed the basic human right to destroy their lives and families.

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    Mute Anto Curran
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    Feb 5th 2017, 8:49 AM

    Seeing what your parents drink is all the advertising companies need. You are going to see the brands at home so it as you’re growing up is what you’ll be used to see so when old enough (or not in most cases) it’s what you’ll initially want to drink. Nothing the government can do about that.

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    Mute bings
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    Feb 5th 2017, 10:00 AM

    We have schools in the center of towns, cities, villages all over Ireland. Are we going to close or move the pubs, hotels so that they are not within 200m of the schools. These businesses will have advertising on or outside their premises. Putting cigarettes behind a screan did nothing for smoking. You will never stop people smoking, drinking this gov needs to get their heads out of their ass and do thier job that they are well paid for.

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    Mute Derry Buckley
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    Feb 5th 2017, 11:39 AM

    Bull more nanny state carp. There are much more important thing to do.

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    Mute Alan Wallace
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    Feb 5th 2017, 1:59 PM

    all alcohol advertising should be banned. Alcohol is a poison and highly addictive drug that destroys lives and it shouldn’t be glamorized.

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    Mute Kieran Jones
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    Feb 5th 2017, 4:00 PM

    Than god you’re not in charge Alan !

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    Mute Bairéid Rísteard
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    Feb 5th 2017, 1:51 PM

    Booze is one of the biggests cons of our time in my opinion. I find the stuff very addictive and I’d have a good amount of will power in general.

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    Mute Anthony Ross
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    Feb 5th 2017, 9:21 AM

    This is fine but for years we have been selling drink to cheap in shops this needs to stop maybe we are to late

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    Mute Jake Gundersonn
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    Feb 5th 2017, 2:26 PM

    Fact: The Irish like to drink . Bitta craic like
    The left: let’s take it away from them because other countries don’t think that way .

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    Mute The Grand O'Malley
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    Feb 5th 2017, 1:22 PM

    Banning alcohol ads on the radio from 10 am to 3pm. What moron thought that would help. Most sober children are in school during those hours

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    Mute Warthog
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    Feb 5th 2017, 5:15 PM

    PC nonsense. It’s “my body” I can put into or take out of it what I want right?

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    Mute Jeffrey McMahon
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    Feb 5th 2017, 11:04 AM

    Hmm. I see a potential flaw in imposing the advertising watershed. Especially when they include indirect advertising. This would impact anti drink driving adverts.

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    Mute Michael Lynch
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    Feb 5th 2017, 3:24 PM

    Anyone connected to the alcoholic beverages industry—- We have your money, you have your piss.

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    Mute Gerard Heery
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    Feb 5th 2017, 8:43 PM

    How do you make sustance more popular among the youth ? Ban it ! Nanny state ,trying to change nappys in the wind .

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    Mute David Alan
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    Apr 10th 2017, 7:31 PM

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    Mute Paddy Farrell
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    Feb 5th 2017, 11:05 AM

    Seems obvious Irish teenagers prefer illicit drugs to alcohol above our European neighbors .

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    Mute Victoria Elisbelth
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    Feb 8th 2017, 12:51 PM

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