According to the seizure protocol, the assets are in fact owned by YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was arrested on tax fraud charges last Saturday.

YUKOS spokesman Alexander Shadrin confirmed this information. “The company’s lawyers see this seizure as a blatant violation of the Criminal and Procedural Code and the Constitution of Russia, as the shares are legally owned by foreign shareholders, Yukos Universal Limited and Hully Enterprises, which, as is well known, are controlled by a group of private shareholders, most of whom are not linked to Mikhail Khodorkovsky,” he said.

“This unlawful approach to the seizure of assets of people allegedly guilty of some trumped-up charges of inflicting damage will soon allow multi-story buildings to be seized, together with apartments,” Mr. Shadrin stressed.

For its part, the Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed the reports about the seizure.

A YUKOS official told RBC that the seizure of the controlling stake could be appealed in court. He said the company would decide on the issue shortly.

YUKOS stocks plunged on the news. They dropped 12.55 percent on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) as of 17:20 Moscow time. RAO Unified Energy Systems of Russia lost 5.91 percent, LUKoil fell 7.16 percent, Rostelecom lost 5.2 percent, Surgutneftegaz dropped 10.6 percent, Mosenergo lost 6.89 percent, Sberbank fell 6.47 percent, Norilsk Nickel dropped 4.6 percent, Tatneft lost 8.45 percent, and Sibneft plunged by 14.44 percent.

As of 17:25 Moscow time, YUKOS’ ADRs dropped 13.01 percent on the London Stock Exchange, while they lost 12.47 percent on the Berlin Stock Exchange and 12.47 – on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. YUKOS stocks fell 12.62 percent on MICEX as of 18:00 Moscow time.