December 19, 2013.

Putin Says He Will Pardon Jailed Tycoon Khodorkovsky

"We're not dead yet," said Julia prosaically.

MOSCOW----Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky had asked for clemency and would receive a pardon soon.

"Not physically. Six months, a year----five years, conceivably. I am afraid of death. You are young, so presumably you're more afraid of it than I am. Obviously we shall put it off as long as we can. But it makes very little difference. So long as human beings stay human, death and life are the same thing."

"Mikhail Khodorkovsky....recently wrote to me and asked me for a pardon. He has already been deprived of his liberty for more than 10 years. It is a severe punishment," Mr. Putin said. "He asked for a pardon for humanitarian reasons, his mother is sick, and I believe that we can make a decision and will soon sign a decree to pardon him."

"Oh, rubbish! Which would you sooner sleep with, me or a skeleton? Don't you enjoy being alive? Don't you like feeling: This is me, this is my hand, this is my leg, I'm real, I'm solid, I'm alive! Don't you like this?"

A spokesperson for Mr. Khodorkovsky's press center said, "We ourselves don't know anything about this. We are trying to find out what is going on."