YUKOS CEO on selling Yuganskneftegaz

The starting price for a stake in &to=http://english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=14492' target=_blank>Yuganskneftegaz has nothing to do with its real price, YUKOS CEO Steven Theede said in a statement that was released today. According to him, the selling of Yuganskneftegaz at such a low price proves that the government has further plans to steal other &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/351/14522_Yukos.html' target=_blank>YUKOS assets using far-fetched tax claims.

It is underlined in Theede's statement that the selling of Yuganskneftegaz is absolutely illegal because according to Russian law, non-core assets are to be sold first in such cases.

Yuganskneftegaz is the heart of YUKOS and its sale will lead to the destruction of the most efficient oil company in Russia that managed to attract a majority of foreign investments, Theede said. According to him, on the one hand, today's announcement of selling YUKOS' main oil producing subsidiary was expected because it was similar to all other events in the YUKOS' case. On the other hand, it was unexpected, as it was an open demonstration of the government ignoring the letter of law.