Khodorkovsky sent to Russian north

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was unexpectedly moved from a Moscow jail to a secret location last week, has been transferred to the northern Vologda province, reports said Wednesday. The former head of Yukos "is currently in a Vologda jail waiting for further transport to Karelia," a source in the regional prison system told RIA Novosti agency. Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev have been in prison since 2003 and were in December convicted of a second set of fraud charges. He served his first sentence in a prison camp near Chita, in southern Siberia. Karelia is a northwestern region bordering Finland, most famous for its vast forests and lakes as well as freezing winters and mosquito-infested summers. Khodorkovsky had requested parole on May 27 after serving half of his prison sentence. Observers have said his request is likely to be reviewed in the location of his imprisonment rather than Moscow.