Kremlin to press on with Yukos execution despite Houston reprieve

Kremlin to press on with Yukos execution despite Houston reprieve

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Kremlin to press on with Yukos execution despite Houston reprieve
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Big News Network.com Saturday 18th December, 2004

Yukos, Russia's largest privately owned oil company, will be broken up on Sunday. After stumbling under debilitating back-tax claims of over $28 billion, the company's most important production unit, Yuganskneftegaz, will be sold at auction with Kremlin-controlled Gazprom the likely winner.

Vladimir Putin's plan to create an international energy heavy weight is about to become a reality. However, the aftermath of the Yukos is poised to create a number of international political and financial headaches.

It took the Kremlin over a year to crush Yukos and harass the company's core shareholders. Exorbitant back tax claims, the arrest and trial of top company officials such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, and the freezing of Yukos' assets and bank accounts have brought Yukos to its knees. Yukos' publicly trade shares have taken the wind out of Russia's once booming stock markets.

Filing bankruptcy in a U.S. court this week has given Yukos a small victory, but will not save Yuganskneftegaz from the auction block. The Houston bankruptcy court has ordered a 10-day stay blocking the auction and barring international financial institutions from assisting Gazprom, the favored winner of the auction, to finance Yuganskneftegaz's purchase. Russian justice officials have dismissed out of hand the U.S. ruling and claim the auction will be carried out as planned.

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Don't ya love Houston being the place the lawsuit occurs!!! Putin is smiling from ear to ear!!!