The spokesman said Khodorkovsky, currently serving an eight-year prison term for tax evasion and fraud in a penal colony in eastern Siberia, had been released from work.
"This is not a unique and extraordinary case of a prisoner's temporary transfer to a separate cell," he said adding that those cases were not frequent.
Khodorkovsky had his nose slashed Friday by a fellow inmate. Several stitches were applied to the wound, but doctors ruled against taking him to the hospital because the injury was not sufficiently serious.
Khodorkovsky's lawyer Natalia Terekhova said her client would not press criminal charges against his attacker, who has been transferred to another block.
The Penitentiary Service said Tuesday Khodorkovsky would be transferred to a separate cell, until the situation stabilizes.
