Russian officials say jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been sent to a prison colony in eastern Siberia to serve out the rest of his eight-year sentence for financial crimes.
The head of the local prison administration Alexander Pleshkov told the Interfax news agency Thursday Khodorkovsky had been sent to a colony in the Krasnokamensk district of Chita province, close to the Chinese border.
Khodorkovsky was convicted on May 31 on charges of embezzlement, fraud and tax evasion relating to his business activities in the 1990s.
Supporters of Khodorkovsky say the state's legal action against him and the Yukos oil firm was a Kremlin-driven reprisal for the tycoon's forays into politics in opposition to President Vladimir Putin. Russian officials deny this and say he is a common criminal.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.
