Here's The First Photo Of Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky After Being Freed From Russian Prison

This photograph of Mikhail Khodorkovsky arriving at Berlin's Schönefeld Airport is the first of him as a free man in over ten years.

It all happened so quickly. Just yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the jailed oligarch, perhaps his greatest enemy, was to be pardoned. This morning, the Khodorkovsky camp (who yesterday were saying they knew nothing about his pardon), announced that he was already free.

Russia Today reports that he was taken away from his prison camp in Segezha, Republic of Karelia, by helicopter, and that he later boarded a private plane to Germany. According to the Swiss website 20 Minuten, Khodorkovsky will first meet his mother in Germany where they will seek medical treatment, and he will then continue to Switzerland.

Right now it appears that Khodorkovsky thought his mother was in Germany, where she had been previously for treatment. Khodorkovsky's parents, rather sadly, were shocked when they were told by German reporters that he had landed in Berlin and not Moscow, but they will be traveling soon.

It's a remarkable escape for one of the most fascinating characters in Modern Russia. Khodorkovsky was once Russia's richest man but he was arrested in 2003 on charges that many international observers said were politically motivated.