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This Article is From Dec 24, 2013

Mikhail Khodorkovsky to reunite with wife, children: spokeswoman

Mikhail Khodorkovsky to reunite with wife, children: spokeswoman
Former tycoon and bitter Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky. (File pic)
Moscow: Kremlin critic and Russia's one-time richest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky is expected to reunite with his wife Inna and their three children on Tuesday after spending 10 years in a Russian jail, his spokeswoman said.

"The family is coming today," spokeswoman Olga Pispanen told AFP. "They have not been together for 10 years."

Russia's most famous inmate flew to Berlin after walking free from a prison in northwestern Russia following a surprise pardon from President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

Khodorkovsky, who has said he would stay out of Russia, is mulling a move to Switzerland where his twin sons go to school and would like to discuss that plan with his family, the spokeswoman said.

"He is waiting for the family's arrival. They will sit down and discuss everything," Pispanen added.

Khodorkovsky's wife, twin sons and a daughter, who are all believed to be in Moscow, have reportedly had to sort out travel documents.

On Thursday, Putin shocked Russia by announcing he would pardon Khodorkovsky, who was jailed for financial crimes in separate convictions in 2005 and 2010. He had been due for release in August 2014.

His supporters say the imprisonment was Putin's revenge against Khodorkovsky who financed the political opposition and openly criticised the Russian strongman.

His Yukos oil firm was broken up and sold off to the state.

Khodorkovsky told reporters in Berlin on Sunday that he could not return to Russia so long as a court order for him to pay $550 million in damages was still in place.

On Saturday, Khodorkovsky reunited with his elderly parents, Marina and Boris, and his eldest son Pavel, his child from his first marriage.

Khodorkovsky said he would not seek revenge against Putin and pledged to help political prisoners held in Russian jails.

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