27 October 2003 10:08
Washington says `wait and see` on Khodorkovsky
Russia's wealthiest man and head of oil giant YUKOS, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was in a Moscow prison on Sunday facing massive fraud and tax evasion charges. Prosecutors described the case as unprecedented.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Susan Pittman told Reuters: "The full meaning of his arrest and this case remains to be seen." "We are mindful in particular about the implications for rule of law and for the developement of a healthy business and investment climate in Russia," she added without further comment.
YUKOS described the charges as "absurd", pledged to uphold obligations to investors and denounced as "humiliating the brute violence used by Russia's law enforcement system".
Since prosecutors detained another YUKOS-related businessman, Platon Lebedev in July and launched searches of institutions linked with the oil giant, Putin has steered clear of disputes involving super-rich magnates. He even said incarceration was improper for many economic crimes. But he also made clear that he does not want the close ties to business moguls maintained by his predecessor Boris Yeltsin.
Putin, almost certain to run for a second term and win next March, was shown on television without commentary chairing his customary Saturday meeting with top security officials.
Action against Khodorkovsky appeared intended to show a firm hand against the "oligarchs" who run many parts of post-Soviet Russia's natural resources and industry. It may also be a prelude to confiscating assets acquired in chaotic privatisations in the 1990s, investment analysts said. "They want to cut him down to size," one international official in Moscow told Reuters.
Electricity utility boss Anatoly Chubais, who oversaw 1990s selloffs, said Russia's business community "believe that only a clear and unambiguous position" by Putin could counteract the "dangerous developments" linked to prosecutors' actions.
[http://gazeta.ru/] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
