Two former executives of defunct Russian oil company Yukos Oil have joined the board of Irish explorer Petroceltic.

The United States has announced new sanctions on seven Russian government officials and 17 companies with links to President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

Europe’s top human rights court yesterday dismissed claims that Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was prosecuted for political reasons, but said some procedures during a trial against him were unfair.

Jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is appealing against his sentence of six more years in prison, a punishment seen as revenge for challenging ex-President Vladimir Putin’s power.

Jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced to six more years in prison yesterday following a trial seen as payback for his defiance of Vladimir Putin.

The judge in the case against jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky finished his third day of reading the verdict without announcing the prison sentence today.

MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY was convicted of theft and money laundering charges yesterday, a verdict that will likely keep the jailed oil tycoon who was once Russia’s richest man behind bars for several more years.

A judge declared former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty of theft and money laundering charges in his second trial today, Russian news agencies reported.

Officials say a Moscow court has sentenced a former manager of the Yukos oil company to 15 years in prison on embezzlement charges.

A Russian court today rejected jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's request for parole.

ONE billion dollars is no longer enough to gain entry to Russia’s rich list.

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.

Russian prosecutors said today that jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner organised the theft of oil worth £16bn (€24bn), in the first details of new embezzlement and money laundering charges filed this week against Russia’s once-richest man.

Russia's top prosecutor said his office wants to question fugitive tycoon Boris Berezovsky the probe of ex-security agent Alexander Litvinenko's poisoning death, Russian news agencies reported today.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s office today said that it was investigating the possible role of a former top owner in the Yukos oil company in the poisoning death of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Detectives in the UK investigating the death of ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko were tonight planning to fly to Moscow in their hunt for clues into the dissident’s poisoning, sources have confirmed.

The president of the embattled Russian Yukos oil company, Steven Theede, announced his resignation in a letter released today just hours ahead of a meeting of creditors that could decide to liquidate the company.

State-controlled Russian oil giant Rosneft made a steady debut on the London Stock Exchange today following its controversial flotation.

The flotation of the Russian state oil company Rosneft on the London Stock Exchange will proceed today, despite claims it would amount to the “laundering” of illegally-acquired assets.

Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich is believed to have bought a stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft, which floated in London and Moscow last week.

Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has lost an appeal against his eight-year jail term for fraud and tax evasion.

President Vladimir Putin today dismissed calls for Russia’s dismissal from the Group of Eight as a product of a Cold War mentality and said leaders of the G-8 nations support Russia’s presidency.

Russian bailiffs announced today that they were moving to collect more $600m (€488m) from jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky that was awarded by a Moscow court, a Russian news agency reported.

A former senior figure in the Yukos oil company who was wanted by the Russian government on fraud charges will not be extradited, a judge ruled today.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair hoped to secure the backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin at their meeting today for Britain’s ambitious G8 goals of lifting Africa out of poverty and tackling climate change.

A MOSCOW court declared oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty of an array of charges yesterday in a trial widely criticised as politically motivated, sentencing him to nine years in prison minus time served.

Judges in Moscow are in their ninth day of reading the verdict in oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s trial, going over details of tax evasion charges, as the politically-charged case approached its end.

Judges in Moscow dropped a forgery charge against oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky today as they renewed reading the voluminous verdict in the closing act of the most closely watched trial in Russia’s post-Soviet history.

Yukos tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky returns to court for a fourth day for the gruelling reading of the verdict in his fraud case today, with his frustrated lawyers speculating that the numbing pace is aimed at killing interest in the biggest trial in post-Soviet Russia.

THE Moscow court reading the verdict in the politically charged trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky adjourned yesterday without pronouncing a final decision, postponing the process into a third day.

Alex Nicholson, Moscow

The Prosecutor-General’s office said today that it was planning to file new charges against oil tycoon and ex-Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky, already awaiting a verdict on charges of tax evasion and fraud in a politically charged trial.

Russia today delayed the verdict in the trial of jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in a case that has alarmed foreign investors, increased oil prices and called into question President Vladimir Putin’s commitment to democracy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is embarking on the first ever visit by a Kremlin leader to the Jewish state in an historic bid to cement improving relations after decades of Soviet-era strain.

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin tried to boost business confidence yesterday, reassuring skittish investors during his state of the nation address that rules governing the privatisation of state property and tax collection would not be constantly shifting.

His name may be taboo in the Kremlin, but jailed Yukos oil company founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky will hover in spirit over a meeting tomorrow between President Vladimir Putin and BP Chief Executive Lord Browne.

A Moscow court today ordered a freeze of the main assets of the Yukos oil company.

Oil giant BP today sought to reassure investors that it was not becoming embroiled in a stand-off with Russian authorities over a $1bn (€782.2m) tax bill.

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has ruled out running for re-election in 2008, the Kremlin said yesterday.

SPANISH police arrested 41 people suspected of laundering over €250 million that the nation’s Interior Ministry said may include funds from embattled Russian oil company, Yukos.

Beleaguered Russian oil company Yukos lost its desperate bid for shelter in American courts when a Texas judge dismissed its bankruptcy case, saying the company did not have enough of a presence in the United States to establish US jurisdiction over a Russian company.

US President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to announce new measures to combat nuclear terrorism and to better safeguard nuclear arsenals at their summit in Slovakia today.

US President George W Bush is urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to reverse Moscow’s recent retreat from democratic reforms, while seeking to refresh his “close relationship” with his Russian counterpart.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cut back on the duties of a top economic adviser who has been outspoken critic of Kremlin policies.