Earlier, the government imposed a freeze on YUKOS’s assets. “It is impossible to sell assets and raise the necessary amount of money until the freeze is lifted,” the company said.

In its statement, YUKOS said it had only $800m in liquid assets, and it expected to have some $1.1bn to $1.2bn by the end of the second quarter.

“If the court agrees to this payment pattern, the company will be able to pay only 60-70 percent of the debt by the end of the year,” the statement said.

On Wednesday, the Moscow Arbitration Court Russian court upheld a demand from the Tax Ministry that YUKOS should pay RUR 99.3bn (about $3.5bn) in back taxes for 2000. YUKOS’s lawyer Sergey Pepelyaev said YUKOS would appeal this ruling.

The conflict between the Tax Ministry and YUKOS began at the end of last year, when the Tax Ministry completed the inspection of YUKOS’a tax payments for 2000. On December 29, the company received the results of the inspection, saying that it was guilty of wrongdoing and owed the state more than RUR 98bn in unpaid taxes and interest.

On April 15, the Moscow Arbitration Court banned YUKOS from selling or mortgaging its assets including shares, at the request of the Tax Ministry.

The oil company is accused of evading taxes through artificially created companies registered in Russian regions and cities unlawfully offering additional tax breaks.

Earlier today, the Moscow City Court upheld the freezing of $5bn in Swiss bank accounts of YUKOS key shareholders and several other people involved in the YUKOS case.