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

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

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.

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 local government official today denied that there were high levels of radiation around the Russian Far East prison camp where oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been sent to serve an eight-year sentence.

Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been sent to the prison where he will serve out his eight-year sentence on charges including tax evasion and fraud, the Interfax news agency reported today.

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.

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.

The Moscow court reading the verdict in the trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky today said it considers him guilty of fraud, but under a section of the criminal code that offers a slightly lesser sentence than the original charge.

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.

The judge reading out the lengthy verdict in oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s fraud and tax evasion trial today said the court considers his guilt to be proven.

Alex Nicholson, Moscow

The Russian court reading the complex verdict in the fraud and tax evasion trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has adjourned until tomorrow and his supporters said the phrasing of the first portion left little doubt he would be found guilty.

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.

Russia’s richest man, ex-Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges that could jail him for 10 years, while authorities tightened the grip on the beleaguered oil company’s key production assets.

Russia’s richest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky pleaded not guilty to all charges against him today, nearly eight months after his arrest at gunpoint at a Siberian airport.

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.

The plain clothes officers who searched the headquarters of the Russian oil giant Yukos, beleaguered by a 99.4bn-ruble (€2.6bn) back taxes claim, were looking for evidence of tax-evasion by a Yukos subsidiary, a company spokesman said today.

RUSSIA’S richest man, billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, went on trial in Moscow yesterday in a case that will delve into the murky privatisations that accompanied the dismantling of the Soviet Union.

Russia’s richest man, billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and another major shareholder in his Yukos oil conglomerate, went on trial in Moscow today in a case that will delve into the murky privatisation process that accompanied the dismantling of the Soviet Union

A Moscow court has ruled that Russia’s richest man and Kremlin foe Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be tried next week on fraud and tax evasion charges.

A Moscow court ruled today that Russia’s richest man, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, will be tried with another key shareholder in beleaguered oil company Yukos and set a hearing date for next week.

More billionaires, including Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich, are based in Moscow than any other city in the world, Forbes magazine’s Russian edition said, listing 33 billionaires who either live in the Russian capital or amassed their fortunes there.

More billionaires, including Chelsea boss Roman Abramovich, are based in Moscow than any other city in the world, Forbes magazine’s Russian edition said today, listing 33 billionaires who either live in the Russian capital or amassed their fortunes there.

The owners of the holding company that controls Russia’s largest oil company Yukos, have offered their stock to the government in exchange for the release of former Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion, has announced his resignation from Yukos, saying the move is a bid to save the oil giant from an escalating criminal probe that has seen top shareholders imprisoned and a large chunk of its stock frozen.

The Russian prosecutor-general’s office today brought tax evasion charges against Platon Lebedev, one of the country’s richest men.

Prosecutors began searching the archives at Russia’s biggest oil producer today in what appeared to be the latest legal manoeuvre against the oil giant.