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Khodorkovsky files documents for residence permit in Switzerland

Local mass media say that he has settled down near Montreux where his family is living

© ITAR-TASS/Zurab Javakhadze

GENEVA, March 10, /ITAR-TASS/. Former Russian YUKOS oil company CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky has filed documents for a residence permit in Switzerland.

“Mikhail Khodorkovsky has filed documents for permanent residence. He likes it in Switzerland and he is planning to stay and live here,” Werner Schaeppi of Creafactory, which represents the former Russian businessman’s interests, said on Monday, March 10.

He declined to elaborate when asked where Khodorkovsky was planning to live. Local mass media say that he has settled down near Montreux where his family is living.

Khodorkovsky arrived in Switzerland in January 2014, several days after receiving a three-month Schengen visa from the Swiss authorities.

If a person wants to stay in Switzerland but won’t work, as wealthy people usually do, he has to prove that he has enough money to stay in the country and that he poses no potential threat to its security, an official at the Federal Office for Migration told ITAR-TASS.

The whole process usually takes several weeks but may drag on for months depending on the situation.

However, no Swiss citizenship (as one has to live for at least 12 years in Switzerland to be eligible to apply for it) or political asylum for Khodorkovsky is being considered at this point.

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