By Li Hongmei

Debt of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky to the Russian budget could be written off during the procedure of his bankruptcy as a private person, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Tuesday. The personal debt of Khodorkovsky to the budget currently amounts to about 17.5 billion rubles.

"We plan to pass the bill on personal bankruptcy of a citizen in the first six months of 2014. Then it will come into effect since 2015, thus any Russian citizen, including Mikhail Khodorkovsky, will be able to use it. He will need to go through the procedure of personal bankruptcy stipulated by the law for this," the newspaper quoted head of the State Duma committee on property Sergei Gavrilov as saying.

Khodorkovsky said repeatedly following his release that the only thing preventing him from returning to Russia was the debt to the budget because of which he might not be allowed to go abroad again, the daily reported.

However, after the bill on bankruptcy of private citizens comes into effect, the issue could be resolved.

"Thus, the former Yukos CEO will be able to come back to Russia easily in 2015," the newspaper reported.

The personal debt of Khodorkovsky to the budget currently amounts to about 17.5 billion rubles. The debt was recognized during the civil proceedings during the first trial on the Yukos case in May 2005, the daily reported.