23 October 2003 10:46
Russian business urges Putin to step into YUKOS row
Russia's top business lobby urged President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to step into a conflict pitting the country's biggest oil firm, YUKOS, against law enforcement agencies. The plea followed fresh moves by prosecutors against YUKOS, including searches on Tuesday of YUKOS premises in connection with allegations of wrongdoing in 1990s privatisations. A senior prosecutor also threatened to carry out further charges against top executives. On Wednesday, YUKOS shares tumbled more than seven percent, its second major drop in as many days.
"We urge Vladimir Putin to intervene personally to calm both sides in a conflict which will have no winners," said the letter to Putin by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) handed to reporters. "New threats by the prosecutors and the continuing process of revising the laws and rules by which the business community has operated for a considerable time, have created a dangerous situation to which we feel we must respond." The letter was the influential lobby's third such appeal to Putin, who has steered clear of public comments on the matter.
The president has deplored what he said could be considered unlawful practices in the tumultuous years following the fall of communism but said the matter was to be left to the courts. Although Putin has met RSPP head Arkady Volsky, the letter said the Kremlin leader has failed to reply to two previous letters. The earlier appeals were issued after a key YUKOS shareholder was detained in July and charged with theft of state property in a 1994 selloff deal. Analysts say moves targetting YUKOS have been initiated by conservative factions in the Kremlin with the aim of curbing the political ambitions of chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man, in the run-up to December parliamentary elections and a presidential poll next year.
Khodorkovsky has backed two liberal parties competing against Putin's allies in the race for 450 seats in the State Duma lower house of parliament. YUKOS is currently completing a merger with its smaller rival, Sibneft. The row is unfolding amid rumours U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil is planning to take a stake in the newly-merged company, YukosSibneft.
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