![]() However, overnight he said: "He has been in jail already more than 10 years. The Kremlin denies this but Mr Putin has singled Mr Khodorkovsky out for bitter personal attacks and ignored many calls for his release. He became a symbol of what investors say is the Kremlin's abuse of the courts for political ends. His company, Yukos, was broken up and sold off, mainly into state hands, following his arrest at gunpoint on an airport runway in Siberia on fraud and tax evasion charges in 2003. Mr Khodorkovsky, 50, fell out spectacularly with Mr Putin a decade ago. The decisions may be to answer critics of Mr Putin's human rights record before Russia hosts the Winter Olympics in February. The announcement follows the approval on an amnesty bill in the Russian parliament that will see the release of two members of the Pussy Riot protest group, and the end of legal proceedings against the so-called Arctic 30 Greenpeace protesters. Mr Putin made the surprise announcement that he would soon free Mr Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, after a marathon news conference. Russian president Vladimir Putin is to pardon one of his best known opponents, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, after a decade in jail.
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