The State Strikes Back
Economic Policy Consequences of the Yukos Affair
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
On 31 May 2005, a key chapter of the Yukos affair, which began in the summer of 2003, came to an end. Mikhail Khodorovskii, the former chief executive and main shareholder of the oil conglomerate Yukos, was sentenced to nine years in prison. Simultaneously, state tax investigators have brought what was once the largest oil company in Russia to the brink of bankruptcy. The Yukos affair is an indicator for the quality of Russia’s legal system, the government’s orientation in economic policy and the relationship between President Vladimir Putin and influential large businesses.
(Osteuropa 7/2005, pp. 76–102)