Yukos handled according to law says Lavrov

Moscow, Russia, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The "Yukos affair" is being handled in compliance with Russian and international law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says.

"We have our own laws, and there are international law principles. We have been tackling all problems dealing with the Yukos's company's tax debt in line with our laws, avoiding any violations of international law," Lavrov said in an interview published in Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper, Interfax news agency reported Monday.

"Assessments from Washington that they [in the United States] do not like all this and that this situation will have a negative impact on Russia's investment attractiveness are not confirmed by the information we have," the report quoted Lavrov as saying.

The giant Yukos oil corporation has been dismembered and its core operating unit Yuganskneftegaz, also known as Yugansk, has come under the control of the Rosneft oil company which is dependent upon the Kremlin.

Yukos' founder, chief shareholder and former chief executive officer, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has been in jail in Moscow for more than 14 months and is on trial on charges of massive fraud and tax evasion.

UPI via The Washington Times, 1.04.2005)