Khodorkovsky applies for three-month Swiss visa
Print Edition
Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has applied for a Swiss visa less than a week after being released from decade-long imprisonment in Russia, officials said yesterday.
Khodorkovsky submitted the request for a 3-month visa at the Swiss Embassy in Berlin, Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Stefan von Below said.
“The request will be processed in the coming days, though it may take a little longer due to the holidays,” he said, declining to provide further details.
There has been speculation about Khodorkovsky’s next move since he flew to Berlin on Friday, hours after being pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The German government has given him a 1-year visa for Germany.
Khodorkovsky spokesman Christian Hanne denied the Swiss visa request was an indication of where the 50-year-old planned to settle. “He wants to travel to Switzerland early in the new year to see the place where his sons go to school. But there’s no decision yet about a permanent home.”
The visa he has applied for would allow him to travel freely within the 26-nation Schengen area, which includes Switzerland and much of the European Union, but not Britain.
Khodorkovsky has business ties to Switzerland stretching back to his days as head of the Yukos oil company.
When Khodorkovsky was prosecuted for tax evasion and money-laundering, Russian officials sought to seize about US$5 billion linked to Yukos that had been deposited in Switzerland.
But Swiss authorities refused to hand over the money after concluding that the prosecution of Khodorkovsky was politically motivated. In 2007, Swiss prosecutors unblocked the last remaining accounts — containing up to 300 million Swiss francs (US$335 million).
It is unclear how much of the money belonged directly to Khodorkovsky, and whether he already has access to it.
In his first public appearance since his release, Khodorkovsky indicated that he may have retained some of the vast fortune that once made him Russia’s richest man.
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