The highest ranking Russian official to go to prison in nearly two decades was released Thursday after serving more than half of an eight-year sentence for a bribery conviction.
Former Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev filed a petition for early release after serving more than five years. A court in the Tver region, some 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of Moscow, granted him parole last month.
He walked free Thursday, and Russian state television showed images of what it said was a convoy of cars taking him away from the Tver prison.
Ulyukayev was detained in 2016 at the headquarters of Russia’s largest oil producer, state-owned Rosneft. Prosecutors said he accepted a $2 million bribe from Rosneft’s influential chief executive, Igor Sechin, for giving the company the green light to privatize another oil firm.
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