Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky promised to stay out of politics in his request for a pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin, he revealed in an interview published Sunday.

"I wrote in my papers what I have repeatedly said publicly: I am not going into politics and not going to fight for the return of (his former oil firm) Yukos assets," Khodorkovsky said in an interview with opposition magazine The New Times.

Russia's most famous inmate, who was whisked to Germany upon his stunning release following a decade in jail, said he will not return to Russia until he is certain he can leave again.

"From an objective point of view, I will return only if I am certain that I will be able to leave when necessary," he told the magazine.