Russian former oil tycoon Mikhail Kordokovsky says he will not seek political power in Russia, but will do all he can to help other political prisoners.
Mr Kordokovsky was freed from jail in Russia on Friday after spending a decade imprisoned on fraud and tax charges.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky held his news conference in Berlin.. Photo: AFP
He has always insisted that his conviction was politically motivated. At the time of his arrest he was Russia's richest man and he used some of his wealth to fund opposition parties.
At a news conference in Berlin on Sunday he said he would stay out of politics and that "the struggle for power" was not for him.
Mr Khodorkovsky said he only found out he was going to Berlin the day he was freed, adding that he would only go back to Russia if he was sure he could leave again.
He held his news conference at the Berlin Wall museum at Checkpoint Charlie, the former crossing point between East and West Berlin and a symbolic Cold War location.
Mr Khodorkovsky said he was not advocating a boycott of next year's Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi, but warned against letting the event become "a great party for President Putin".
He also said he would not return to business as "my financial situation doesn't require me to work just to earn some more money". Earlier, the former billionaire told a Russian magazine he did not intend to fight for the return of assets from his disbanded oil company, Yukos.
The BBC reports the former prisoner made his money during the unscrupulous 1990s, building a huge banking and oil empire. For that reason, many in Russia see him as part of a gang who stole Russia's assets as the Soviet Union fell apart.
But in the early 2000s he tried to lead the way in modernising Russian business, and encouraging further democracy in the country.
