Putin: No desire to bankrupt Yukos
From Jill Dougherty
CNN Moscow Bureau Chief
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- The Russian government is not interested in bankrupting Yukos, President Vladimir Putin said, ahead of a crucial court hearing the oil giant says could force it to declare bankruptcy.
"Russian officials, the government, and economic officials of the country are not interested in bankrupting a company like Yukos," the Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying Thursday.
Speaking in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the Russian president said Yukos' tax problems are a legal issue, "but the government will try to act so as not to bring down the company."
On Friday, a Moscow court will hear an appeal on Russian tax authorities' demand that Yukos immediately pay $3.4 billion for back taxes from 2000.
The company is warning the move could force it to declare bankruptcy. Its assets have been frozen by another court, and the company claims it does not have the cash to pay the claim.
The issue of Yukos' potential bankruptcy is "very delicate," Putin said, "and right now any word could be interpreted one way or another by those who are competitors of the company, those who want to support it, and the company itself."
The president made no predictions on how the case will be decided.
On Wednesday, the former head of Yukos Oil Company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, went on trial with another top shareholder, Platon Lebedev.
Both men are facing charges of fraud and tax evasion totaling more than $1 billion.
Although the two legal cases are technically separate, some observers believe they are both part of a Kremlin-directed effort to take over the company and eliminate Khodorkovsky's economic and political clout.
