Putin Unaware of New Khodorkovsky Accusations During 2013 Pardoning

Vladimir Putin had no information about Mikhail Khodorkovsky's possible involvement in the 1998 murder of Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov when the President pardoned ex-Yukos CEO in 2013, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian President had no information about the possible involvement of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in the 1998 murder of Nefteyugansk mayor, according to the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"Of course there was no [such information], there just could not be."

Earlier in the day, Khodorkovsky said he had been called in for questioning by Russia's Investigative Committee on December 11. 

"The investigative committee have been doing their job, and in this case it is the legal authorities who should be disclosing new details. We did not have those details back then, " Peskov stressed.

It was the new data concerning Khodorkovsky's possible involvement in the Petukhov case that triggered the Investigative Committee's activity, the Kremlin spokesman explained. 

Coordinator of Khodorkovsky's Open Russia initiative Vladimir Kara-Murza said on social networks that Khodorkovsky had been summoned for questioning regarding Alexei Pichugin's case.

Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov was killed in 1998. Former Yukos security head Pichugin was convicted of planning the mayor's murder, as well as the attempted assassination of a Khodorkovsky adviser, the same year.