Yukos' last assets sold

The curtain finally fell on the shattered Yukos oil empire today, with a mysterious auction providing a dramatic conclusion to the politically charged, four-year demise of the company that was once Russia’s biggest oil producer.

From the gunpoint arrest of the company’s founder to the creditors’ decision to liquidate the company to pay off €21.9bn in back tax bills, the case has been seen as a warning to Russia’s mighty tycoons to obey the Kremlin.