Pardoned Russian Tycoon Is Free to Start Planning His Future

Pardoned Russian Tycoon Is Free to Start Planning His Future

BERLIN — Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky spent his first full day as a free man in the German capital reconnecting with his eldest son and his parents, whom he had not seen during the 10 years he spent in prison in Russia. But even as he recovered in a luxury hotel on Saturday, Mr. Khodorkovsky began planning how to use his newfound freedom, holding meetings with German officials and organizing his first public appearance.

One day after he touched down in Berlin following a decision by the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, to pardon him for his crimes, Mr. Khodorkovsky, 50, stayed clear of the knot of cameras and reporters who had gathered outside the Adlon Hotel, desperate for a glimpse of the man who came to symbolize Mr. Putin’s authoritarian reach and intolerance of political critics.

His eldest son, Pavel, and representatives of theKhodorkovsky Center said Mr. Khodorkovsky would hold a news conference on Sunday at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, at the old crossing point between the formerly divided city’s east and west sides.

“As you can imagine, my father is going through a lot right now, and he cannot possibly be with all of you today,” his son told reporters. “But he really appreciates all the support that he has received through these years.”

It remains unclear what role, if any, Mr. Khodorkovsky, the former chairman of Yukos Oil, could play in Russia’s political opposition, which he supported before his arrest on embezzlement charges in 2003. A generational shift has taken place during the years that he spent in prison, bringing new leaders onto the domestic scene.

But the international following that he built up over the past decade gives him a unique platform that observers said he could use to further his campaign for political justice and strengthen the rule of law in Russia.

Inside the hotel in Berlin, Mr. Khodorkovsky granted his first interview, to Yevgenia Albats, editor of The New Times, a Moscow-based magazine for which Mr. Khodorkovsky has written a column since 2011. The magazine’s website crashed in the hours after it began publishing video clips of the interview. In one clip, Ms. Albats asks Mr. Khodorkovsky how it feels to sleep in a normal bed again. Mr. Khordorkovsky responds that on rare occasions, during extended meetings with family members, he slept in better conditions than those afforded by the bunk in a cell.

Ms. Albats, posting on Facebook, said her conversation with Mr. Khodorkovsky lasted for two and a half hours, and she posted several pictures of them together.

Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a former foreign minister of Germany, worked for two and a half years behind the scenes to negotiate for Mr. Khodorkovsky’s release, and greeted him as he arrived at the Berlin airport.

Alexander Rahr, a German expert on Russia who advised Mr. Genscher, said he could envision a role for Mr. Khodorkovsky similar to that played by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet-era dissident and Nobel laureate who criticized Soviet Communism from abroad.

“I don’t want to directly compare Mr. Khodorkovsky with Solzhenitsyn, they are very different, but he could tackle this role as a thinker, writer and a speaker,” Mr. Rahr said. “Mr. Khodorkovsky, with the image that he has, could do a lot of thinking about projects and speak about the Russia of today and tomorrow. He will be listened to.”

In Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed Mr. Khodorkovsky’s release and called on Moscow to continue a push for democratic reforms.

“The United States strongly encourages Russia to pursue reforms that establish a transparent, independent and reliable judicial system that upholds its commitments to human rights, the rule of law and nondiscrimination,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement.

The negotiations that led to Mr. Khodorkovsky’s release have been celebrated in Germany as indicative of Berlin’s continued influence in Moscow, at a time when Washington and the European Union are growing uneasy over Mr. Putin’s attempts to draw Ukraine into his sphere of influence.

Mr. Genscher met twice with the Russian president during the years that he sought to secure Mr. Khodorkovsky’s release, drawing on ties that he built up during his tenure as Germany’s top diplomat from 1974 to 1992.

Marieluise Beck, a member of the opposition Green Party who was among the few diplomats and lawmakers who lobbied for Mr. Khodorkovsky’s release, spent an hour with him on Saturday. She said they discussed his plans for the future and the situation in his homeland, including the fate of Platon A. Lebedev, his former business partner, who remains in jail.

Russian officials have said that it was Mr. Khodorkovsky’s decision to leave for Germany and that he was free to return anytime. Ms. Beck told reporters on Saturday that although it was not clear if he would remain in Germany, “a return to Russia is not on his agenda at the moment.”