 Image caption Khodorkovsky gave the first news conference after his release in Berlin 
 
 Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man as head of oil giant Yukos, spent 10 years in custody for tax evasion and theft after funding opposition parties. “He’s already spent more than 10 years in prison, that’s a serious punishment,” Putin said. Mr Putin said he had received a request from Khodorkovsky - in custody for a decade - to pardon him on humanitarian grounds as his mother is ill. 
 
 Khodorkovsky's representatives said they needed to meet him before commenting but that the family would be "elated to see him finally freed". A statement from his press centre reads: "Until his legal team can meet with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, it cannot be commented on whether a request on a pardon was made, by whom and for what reasons. There is a greater focus on reform issues as we have seen with the political amnesty.” 
 
 Khodorkovsky, 50, has served more than 10 years in prison after two convictions for tax evasion, money-laundering and oil embezzlement. The appeal for clemency was received “recently” in the form of a letter signed by Khodorkovsky, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said by phone. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Vladimir Putin said he would "soon sign an order about his [Mikhail Khodorkovsky's] pardon" 
 
 Analysts say Mr Putin may be trying to ease international criticism of Russia's human rights record ahead of February's Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Thirty people jailed over a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling are also expected to avoid trial under the amnesty approved by parliament this week, although Putin said it was not drawn up with Pussy Riot or Greenpeace in mind. Speaking to reporters after his annual news conference in Moscow on Thursday, Mr Putin confirmed the amnesty would apply to the two members of punk band Pussy Riot still in prison and Greenpeace activists detained for their protest at a Russian oil rig in the Arctic. The Russian leader said at a call-in news conference in 2010 that “thieves should sit in jail.” A year later, Putin insisted that to get an amnesty, Khodorkovsky would have to admit his guilt.
– Vladimir Putin has freed famous oil-tycoon-turned-Kremlin-critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, after announcing he would do so yesterday. Putin signed a pardon that allowed for Khodorkovsky's release today on the basis of "the principles of humanity," reports the BBC, which confirms Khodorkovsky left prison after eating lunch. Putin's foes have long held up Khodorkovsky's prosecution and imprisonment as examples of his abuse of power. (The BBC has a profile of Khodorkovsky here.) Yesterday, Putin said he'd never freed him because until now, he hadn't asked, the BBC reports. "He has already been in detention more than 10 years, this is a serious punishment," Putin pointed out. "He is referring to humanitarian circumstances as his mother is ill." But Khodorkovsky, his mother, and his lawyers all denied that he'd requested the pardon, Reuters reports, and he had previously said that such a request would essentially be an admission of guilt. The initial news came a day after Russia's lower house passed an amnesty bill that could free as many as 25,000 prisoners—possibly including the jailed Pussy Rioters and Greenpeace protesters, the New York Times reports. Both moves are widely seen as attempts to deflect international criticism ahead of the Sochi Olympics. Khodorkovsky's release is also "good for the investor perception of Russia," one analyst told Bloomberg, and indeed Russian stocks rose 1.3% on the initial news.