Freed Khodorkovsky arrives in Germany

RUSSIAN businessman and government critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky has arrived in Germany after being freed from a Russian prison earlier in the day.

Khodorkovsky landed in Berlin at around 3pm local time, former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher said after meeting him at Schonefeld airport outside the German capital.

A German businessman, Ulrich Bettermann, lent his company plane to fly Khodorkovsky out of Russia after being asked by Genscher, the company's public relations agency said on Friday.

OBO Bettermann provides electrical equipment for the oil and gas industries and has significant operations in Russia.

Georg Streiter, a deputy spokesman for the German government, said that Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the release.

"She is delighted," he said.

Merkel told reporters late on Thursday in Brussels that she was looking forward to Khodorkovsky's release "if that should happen tomorrow," prompting speculation that the German government had been involved in a deal to free Khodorkovsky.

The Russian Federal Prison Service said Khodorkovsky flew to Germany where his mother had been undergoing medical treatment and that he was issued a passport upon his personal request.

His mother, Marina Khodorkovskaya, is back in Russia.

She told the Itar Tass news agency: "I was there (Germany) for treatment some time ago, but right now I am in Romashkino outside Moscow."

She added that her son had not contacted her so far.

"I believe he has no telephone," she said.

Khodorkovsky's legal team said that Anton Drel, a longtime lawyer for Khodorkovsky, is with him and that a more detailed statement would be issued soon.

Earlier on Friday, President Vladimir Putin signed a pardon decree for Khodorkovsky, who has been serving an 11-year sentence in a prison colony.

Khodorkovsky walked out of his prison colony in Karelia at 12.20pm local time (1920 AEDT), a law enforcement source in the north-western Russian region told the Interfax news agency.

The prison service later confirmed that Khodorkovsky was free.

In his decree, Putin says that he pardoned Khodorkovsky because he was "guided by the principles of humanity" and that his order was to take effect on the day it was signed.

Putin surprised the world on Thursday by announcing he would grant a presidential pardon to Khodorkovsky because the former oil tycoon had sent him a request in which he argued that his mother is ill.

Khodorkovsky wrote in November that his mother is suffering from cancer and that he feared he will not see her again alive.

Formerly one of Russia's richest men, Khodorkovsky has been in jail for more than 10 years after convictions on tax evasion and embezzlement charges.

He was expected to get out of prison in August.

However, prosecutors said earlier this month that they were investigating Khodorkovsky on new money laundering accusations.

He has in the past refused to ask for a pardon, implying that it would mean an admission of guilt.

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