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.

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.