Court: Yukos must pay tax claim
From Jill Dougherty
CNN Moscow Bureau Chief
 |  Supporters of Yukos chief Khodorkovsky outside court Thursday. |
| |
|  VIDEO |
 CNN's Jill Dougherty examines how some Russians became billionaires
|
|
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- A Moscow court has rejected an appeal by the Yukos oil company and approved a claim by tax authorities that the company pay outstanding taxes from 2000 totaling $3.4 billion.
Friday's move increases pressure on the company, which is struggling to survive the state's legal assault against it and its core shareholders, to declare bankruptcy.
Analysts said the decision means the court has found the tax claim to be valid, but has not yet decided when Yukos must pay.
The oil giant has said it does not have the cash to pay the tax bill since its assets have been frozen.
As shares in Yukos were reeling earlier this week in response to bankruptcy fears, President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly weighed in on the issue Thursday, saying the government was not interested in bankrupting a company like Yukos.
Yukos shares immediately jumped by more than a third on the news on Thursday but were down by 1000 GMT Friday as investors tried to digest the latest developments.
Yukos this week appealed to the Russian government for a deal to pay off the taxes.
In a letter to the prime minister, it proposed debt restructuring, the possibility of buying out shares of former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his associates and selling off parts of the company's assets to state energy companies.
Khodorkovsky and another major Yukos stockholder are currently involved in their own court case on charges of fraud and tax evasion.
Many analysts believe both cases are part of a Kremlin-inspired vendetta aimed at stripping Khodorkovsky of his economic and political clout.
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.
