Russia sells the heart of Yukos

Russia has sold the heart of the Yukos oil empire in an auction reminiscent of the country’s notorious privatisations of the 1990s, analysts said, as the former CEO of the company offered bitter season’s greetings to the Kremlin from behind bars.

“The authorities have given themselves a wonderful Christmas present,” said Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed founder of the business that had been considered the most transparent of all Russian companies.