Russian tycoon’s arrest re-ignites fears of a ‘second Yukos’

The arrest of a Russian telecoms and oil tycoon has sent shockwaves through the country’s business community, with some fearing a return to the dark days of a decade ago, when the Kremlin asserted its power by imprisoning the country’s then-richest man and expropriating his companies.

The criminal case against Vladimir Yevtushenkov, 65, marks the first attack on a billionaire businessman since the arrest in 2003 of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos, which was the country’s largest oil company at the time.

He spent the next decade in prison on tax evasion and misappropriation charges and saw his company taken over by the state and sold in pieces.