Putting it in

30 October 2003

The intensity of the confrontation between the Kremlin and oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has just gone up a notch. The worry is that all Russian property rights are affected. If anything is enough to halt Russia s structural bull run, this is it.

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Context News

The Russian state froze a controlling stake in oil giant Yukos on Thursday in a dramatic escalation of the confrontation between the government and big business.

The act follows the arrest of Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky over the weekend.

Russian state prosecutors said they had frozen 44% of the company's capital. The shares were held in two offshore firms, which are in turn daughter companies of Group Menatep, which is majority controlled by Khodorkovsky.

Russian president Vladimir Putin met with senior investment bankers in the Kremlin on Thursday. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that the Yukos affair was hurting the economy.

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