Putin Destroying Yukos Economic Empire - EU Official

A senior European Union official said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is deliberately trying to destroy the economic empire of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, detained founder of oil giant Yukos, Reuters news agency reports.

“We interpret this as a decision of President Putin to destroy an economic empire which had certain strategic goals of political influence,” Reuters quoted Eneko Landaburu, the European Commission’s Director General of External Relations, as saying to the European Parliament.

“What’s happening here is essentially a settling of accounts,” he said when asked about moves by Russia to force the sale of Yukos’ main production subsidiary, Yuganskneftegas, to pay a $3.4 billion tax bill.

Most EU leaders have been cautious in commenting on the Yukos case.

However, Landaburu, the top civil servant under EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, told parliament’s foreign affairs committee he saw no sign the Kremlin was trying to take over running the economy, Reuters reported.

He said it was clear the Yukos crisis was worrying foreign investors in Russia, whose economy is heavily reliant on the raw materials sector, especially oil and natural gas.

But Russia’s general economic strategy was to build a market economy and the Yukos case appeared to be a one-off, Reuters quoted Landaburu as saying.

Relations between Russia and Brussels have already been strained this year over the EU’s enlargement into former communist Eastern Europe.

There has also been concern in both Brussels and Washington that Putin has been emphasizing economic reform at the expense of democracy and political liberalization.

Patten has said the rule of law should apply as rigorously to companies as to individuals in Russia and that it was no surprise the case had caused a good deal of concern.


HERE