- Mikhail Khodorkovsky has resigned as chief executive
of Yukos a week after his arrest plunged the Russian oil company into crisis.
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- "I am leaving the company. I am confident that the
extremely professional and close-knit team of highly experienced managers,
supported by the board of directors, will successfully handle the challenge
of the globalisation of YukosSibneft's business," Mr Khodorkovsky
said in a statement.
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- Shares in Yukos jumped following the news of the resignation
and were at $12.15 or up 8.5 per cent in late afternoon trade in Moscow
while the RTS index of leading shares rose more than 6.3 per cent.
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- Mr Khodorkovsky is in prison in Moscow following his
arrest last month in what was largely seen in Moscow as a politically motivated
act.
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- He faces charges of embezzlement, theft, tax evasion,
falsifying documents and seals, inflicting damage to property through deceit
and failure to fulfil court orders.
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- His arrest, and the subsequent freezing of his 44 per
cent shareholding in Yukos, have led to concerns among investors about
the attractiveness of Russia for business.
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- The split in the Kremlin over the Yukos investigation
had widened earlier when Dmitry Medvedev, the newly-appointed head of the
presidential administration, called into question the freezing of Yukos
shares late on Sunday.
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- Speaking on the state-controlled TV channel, Mr Medvedev
said prosecutors who last week ordered the Yukos shares to be frozen should
consider the economic impact of their actions.
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- Mr Medvedev's thinly-veiled warning to the prosecutors
confirm his position as a counterweight to the more hard-line members in
Mr Putin's administration.
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- He warned against over-zealous use of administrative
resources, including prosecution, saying: "This is a dangerous thing.
The consequences of an action which had not been entirely thought through
will immediately show in the economy and will create confusion in political
life."
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- His comments follow an expression of "grave concern"
by Mikhail Kasyanov, Russian prime minister over the investigations surrounding
Yukos. However, Mr Medvedev's moderate line goes against rhetoric used
by Russia's foreign ministry in response to Washington's criticism of the
legal action.
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- Richard Boucher, US State Department spokesman, called
on the Kremlin to dispel concerns about political motives behind the arrest
of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Yukos chief executive.
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- Alexander Yakovenko, for Russia's foreign ministry countered,
saying: "There is no doubt that the statement is a continuation of
a notorious policy of double standards which the current US administration
suffers from."
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- Meanwhile, tensions in the European Union over how to
respond are expected to surface at Thursday's EU-Russia summit in Rome.
Silvio Berlusconi, holder of the rotating EU presidency who will chair
the talks, is expected to try to keep discussion of it to a minimum.
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- But Javier Solana and Chris Patten, the EU's two foreign
policy chiefs, have both spoken of their concern about the need to uphold
the rule of law in Russia.
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- Russia's prosecutor's office has insisted that all its
actions have been within the law, and Mr Putin last week said that he fully
supported their investigation.
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- Separately on Sunday, advisers to Mr Khodorkovsky indicated
that Leonid Nevzlin, his partner and key shareholder who emigrated to Israel
over the summer, had taken control of Mr Khodorkovsky's shares.
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- Menatep, the company through which Mr Khodorkovsky and
his partners owned their Yukos stakes, denied suggestions that Lord Jacob
Rothschild, the influential British financier, controlled the stake. It
said: "We don't comment on rumours, especially ones as exotic as this."
Rothschild declined to comment.
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