Putin defends secret Yukos purchase

Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly defended the purchase of Yukos oil company assets by a state-owned firm, saying today that the state was getting its due.

“Today, the state – using absolutely legal, market mechanisms – is ensuring its interests. I consider this perfectly normal,” he said at his annual news conference in Moscow.

In an apparently secret, no-bid sale, the state-owned Rosneft oil company bought an obscure company that several days ago purchased Yukos’ most important production unit, Yuganskneftegaz.

The deal set the stage for the Kremlin’s takeover of the nation’s largest oil company following a relentless 18 month official crackdown.

Putin’s deputy chief of staff and long-time confidant, Igor Sechin, serves as Rosneft’s chairman of the board.

Putin recalled that in the years following the 1991 Soviet collapse, “some market participants got multibillion state assets using different tricks, including some violations of then-existing legislation”.

The 100% state-owned Rosneft’s purchase of the Yukos stake “was done in absolute conformity with market means,” he said.