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.

The finance chief of Russia’s embattled oil giant Yukos is refusing to return to Moscow from London after Russian prosecutors summoned him for questioning.

Russian oil giant Yukos has been told its bank accounts are no longer frozen, giving it access to cash and helping it to stay afloat and make good on the massive back-tax bills it faces.

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.