Russian Court Rebuffs Yukos but Puts Off Crucial Ruling

A day after President Vladimir V. Putin said his government did not want to bankrupt Yukos, an appellate court in Moscow on Friday postponed a ruling on a looming $3.4 billion tax bill that the company's executives have warned could do exactly that.

A series of decisions by the appeals board of the Moscow Arbitration Court initially went against Yukos, the largest oil company in Russia. The court rejected efforts by Yukos to postpone hearings not only on the tax ministry's claim but also on an appeal of a ruling that the company would have to pay the bill immediately.

But the court adjourned until Monday before reaching a decision on the ministry's request to overturn a ruling issued in May to reduce the original tax claim. In the view of Yukos's lawyers, a ruling on that issue would effectively be a final decision on the claim itself.

The proceedings Friday - along with the opening of the separate criminal trial this week against Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, the founder and former chief executive of Yukos - brought the government's prolonged legal assault against the company nearer to a climax.

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