Yukos chooses new chief

[emad]

From BBC News:

A Russian-born American has been named to replace Mikhail Khodorkovsky as chief executive of Russia's largest oil company.
Yukos said its board of directors had appointed Simon Kukes as chief executive, replacing Mr Khodorkovsky who resigned on Monday. Mr Kukes, 56, emigrated from the Soviet Union to the US in the 1970s but has since returned to Russia. Mr Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man, is being held on charges of fraud and tax evasion.
The crackdown on Yukos and its boss stirred fears of a wider confrontation between the Kremlin and big business.
<snip>

The appointment of Mr Kukes follows a stubborn defence by Russian President Vladimir Putin of his government's record over the Yukos crisis.

He said the detention of Mr Khodorkovsky was neither evidence of authoritarianism nor a sign that Moscow was considering renationalising privatised industries. Speaking to Italian journalists ahead of a state visit to Italy, Mr Putin said the Yukos case was about law enforcement. "There will be no de-privatisation or revision of privatisation results," he said. "But one and all should learn the skill of living by the law and observing the law of the country." He compared Mr Khodorkovsky's fate to that of the "score of US company bosses" arrested in the past two years. "But nothing extraordinary happened," he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera, "and no one questioned the existence of the rule of law. For us too, it is nothing exceptional."
<snip>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3239389.stm

On edit: UK football team Chelsea boss Abramovich next for that 6am knock on the door??:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1077286,00.html

[jmcgowanjm]

1. Message from Russia to US/XOM-

Russia will not allow the sale of hydrocarbon
producers to foreigners.

[UpInArms]

2. interesting footnote re: Kukes

http://foi.missouri.edu/usenergypolicies/itsnotallaboutoil.html

Russia is in a more delicate position. Iraq owes Moscow $8 billion in Soviet-era debt. In 1997, Lukoil signed a $3.5 billion, 23-year deal to revive Iraq's al-Qurnah field, which has 7.8 billion barrels of proven reserves. But the accord was put on ice since President Vladimir V. Putin's support for the U.S.-led sanctions drive.

Now Lukoil is sending a high-level delegation in February to heal the breach -- the second such diplomatic overture in recent weeks. Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov claims to have Kremlin assurances that his interests will be protected in a post-Saddam regime. That has many industry observers convinced that an informal accord with Washington is in place, one that would restore Lukoil's stake in Iraq.