Yukos turmoil as deadline nears
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MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- The crisis surrounding Yukos deepened Wednesday as a deadline loomed for the embattled Russian oil giant to pay off a multi-billion tax claim.
Russia's government denied a report that it received a rescue offer from former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky in an apparent last-bid effort to avoid bankruptcy.
Yukos Chief Financial Officer Bruce Misamore also told CNN that "nobody here sent a letter" to the government offering a deal by Khodorkovsky.
The Financial Times said Khodorkovsky was willing to give up shares in the oil giant in exchange for the government restructuring Yukos' tax debt.
Citing "people close to the discussions," the newspaper said a letter was sent to the government Tuesday outlining the proposal.
But Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's office said the government had not received such a letter.
Meanwhile, Interfax news agency reported that Russia's Federal Court Bailiff's Service was enforcing a court order against Yukos in connection with the tax demands for 2000.
Asked whether any bailiffs were currently on Yukos property, a senior Yukos official said he had no knowledge of that.
"It's a very, very tense situation right now," said CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty. "This is a fight to the finish, it's unclear who's going to blink."
Yukos has until midnight Wednesday to pay $3.4 billion in back taxes -- a demand it says will force it out of business. Khodorkovsky, along with other key shareholders, owns a 44 percent stake in Yukos.
Khodorkovsky's lawyer, Anton Drel, told CNN he was on his way to speak with his client, who is being held in a Moscow jail.
The lawyer said he would discuss the issue with Khodorkovsky but would have no comment "until after the markets close" Wednesday evening.
Khodorkovsky is on trial with Platon Lebedev facing charges of fraud and tax evasion totaling more than $1 billion.
Although the 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.
"There are signs that the destruction of the Yukos Oil Company is the end game," a senior U.S. diplomat said.
Also Wednesday, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development criticized Russia's handling of the Yukos case, saying the legal action represented "highly selective law enforcement," Reuters reported
Russia's deputy finance minister has indicated the government and Yukos could reach an agreement to restructure the tax bill for 2000.
But the Russian prosecutor general has said the company may be forced to pay back taxes for other years, too.
"This is a snowball. This case has a beginning, but it is very difficult to see the end," Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov told radio station Echo in Moscow on Tuesday.
Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov said its was "theoretically" possible that the government and Yukos could find a way to get the $3.4 billion tax bill paid.
The Financial Times report sent Yukos stock up 12 percent in early trading Wednesday. Yukos closed 7 percent higher on Tuesday, after rising 22 percent on Shatalov's comments.
In addition to the 2000 taxes, the Russian Tax Ministry is demanding the company pay another $3.4 billion in back taxes from the year 2001.
Ustinov, on the radio Tuesday, added that "there is also 2002 and 2003."
And on Monday, Yukos announced that a group of international lenders had informed the company that it was in technical default on a $1 billion loan. Although the lenders are not demanding immediate payment, the move put more pressure on the beleaguered oil company.
The senior U.S. diplomat told CNN Tuesday that there is "an extraordinary game of brinkmanship being played out here."
The moves are "creating new anxieties among investors and damaging Russia's image abroad," the diplomat said.
The United States "will hold Russia to their own word that the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be open," the diplomat said.
Speaking about the recent legal action against Yukos, the diplomat said, "we hope they will pull back from the brink before it is too late."
The events "raise questions on property rights, that the ownership of assets can be called into question."
The diplomat said the United States has not gotten directly involved in any lobbying on behalf of Yukos.
Asked how he interprets Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments that the Russian government is not interested in the bankruptcy of Yukos, the senior diplomat said:
"With each passing day, it is harder and harder to answer that question."
He added, "Clearly, this case reflects deep animosity between Putin and Khodorkovsky" and "now other forces are at work, moving according to their own logic. It appears his comment had only a momentary effect."
The diplomat described events with Yukos as a "game of chicken with two cars racing toward each other and getting closer to the cliff."
Asked whether the U.S. government is warning U.S. companies to beware of doing business in Russia, he said, "We've always urged caution because of the vagaries of the legal system, but we've been urging an extra measure of caution because of Yukos."
"Oligarch-bashing plays well with the Russian public."
Asked how this will affect the investment climate in Russia, the diplomat said, "The markets themselves will be the ultimate arbiters."
CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty contributed to this report.
