Former Russian tycoon may seek asylum in UK

Outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin has been charged with murder in absentia

Mikhail Khodorkovsky
(Image credit: Brendan Hoffman/Getty)

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was once Russia's richest man, has said he is giving serious thought to asking the United Kingdom to grant him political asylum, after a Russian court declared him "under arrest in absentia" over the murder of a Siberian mayor in the 1990s.

Khodorkovsky maintains that the charges are politically motivated, and that orders have come directly from Russian president Vladimir Putin to have him incarcerated.

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