This NY Times article reports that Russian governmental officials ordered court bailiffs to take the extraordinary step of freezing Russian energy giant Yukos Oil‘s bank accounts and demanding payment of a $3.4 billion tax debt within five days. Here are earlier posts about Yukos’ problems with the Russian government.
Yukos is one of the world’s largest oil companies. It produces around 1.7 million barrels a day, which is about 2 percent of the world’s total output. It is the leading exporter in Russia, which is heavily dependent on oil revenue and, along with Saudi Arabia, is one of the world’s top oil-producing countries.
Founded by Russian financier Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, Yukos has been fighting with the Kremlin for the past year over taxes and related issues. Mr. Khodorkovsky has been in jail since November, 2003 on charges of fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion related to his creation of Yukos during the wild privatizations of Russian state assets in the 1990’s. The trial was commenced and adjourned last month, and is scheduled to resume on July 12.