imageBRUSSELS: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday welcomed the release from a Russian prison of Kremlin critic and ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

"I am happy," she said about Khodorkovsky who has arrived in Berlin after the famous prisoner received a surprise pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Merkel was however the only EU leader at a two-day summit to have made a comment on Moscow's decision to free the former tycoon, with others shying away from comments amid tensions with Russia over the political crisis in Ukraine.

Khodorkovsky flew to Berlin on Friday after he was freed from a Russian jail after more than 10 years behind bars.

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