Jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has begun a hunger strike to support his colleague Platon Lebedev, who was moved into an isolation cell last week, according to a statement.

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.

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

In the first sign that the government might compromise to save the Yukos oil company from bankruptcy over back taxes, Russian news agencies reported today that the Cabinet was considering a Yukos proposal to pay £5bn (€7.5bn) over a three-year period.

WHEN one of the plum prizes went on the block in Russia’s chaotic sell-off of former Soviet assets, the highest bid for a stake was $1 billion — but prosecutors say Mikhail Khodorkovsky snapped it up for just $210,000.