Putin signs decree to pardon tycoon Khodorkovsky

President Vladimir V. Putin issued a decree on Friday to free Russia’s most famous prisoner, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the former chief executive of Yukos Oil whose arrest and imprisonment 10 years ago punctuated an authoritarian turn in Russia’s modern history.Mr. Putin’s pardon decree — a mere 34 words — brought Mr. Khodorkovsky’s criminal odyssey to an abrupt and thoroughly unexpected end. His lawyer said that he could be released within days or even hours, and even before the decree journalists gathered outside the prison in the Kareliya region where he has been held. Mr. Putin’s decree cited “humanitarian principles” in granting the pardon, “freeing him of further punishment of imprisonment.” The release of Mr. Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man and an aspiring political rival, represented an unexpected and striking turnabout for Mr. Putin. For a decade, he has shown no signs of sympathy, let alone mercy, as the authorities dismantled Mr. Khodorkovsky’s company and pursued criminal charges — even as recently as this month — that seemed intended to keep him in prison for life. Mr. Putin, who commands singular political authority here, now appears to have the confidence to risk freeing a man who even in prison has persisted as one of his harshest political critics and who still has the will and financial resources to challenge not only the seizure of his company’s assets but Mr. Putin’s power. Mr. Putin may also have an eye to presenting a positive image to the outside world ahead of the Winter Olympics, which start in the Russian city of Sochi on Feb. 7.  continue