Yukos boss thinks he'll lose company

Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in jail since October in what analysts say is Kremlin punishment for political activities, said on Thursday he had little doubt he would lose his firm Yukos.

In remarks published on his official Web site, the billionaire said he had no personal funds to cover Yukos's back tax bills of over $7 billion, but reiterated he was ready to cede control over the firm to avoid its brutal dismantling.

Now on trial for fraud and tax evasion, Khodorkovsky had only one regret — not having left the business in early 2000 to focus on public activities. He said nothing of whether he planned any political activity in the future.

"Many believe I will be stripped of YUKOS. And that is probably what will happen," Khodorkovsky said in his comment, bitterly attacking officials leading the legal case against him but steering clear of any criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

"I am ready to give my shares back to avoid the company's destruction, (and) protect its operations," he said.

Khodorkovsky, in detention since last October, could be imprisoned for up to 10 years if convicted.

He owns a third of YUKOS, Russia's top oil exporter, which faces payment of more than $7 billion in back taxes, a bill that could yet reach $10 billion. That could allow the state to dismantle YUKOS by selling its key Siberian oil producing units.

Khodorkovsky's troubles are largely seen as a final Kremlin warning to "oligarchs" — a small group of entrepreneurs who bought lucrative assets at bargain prices in chaotic 1990s privatizations — to stay out of politics.

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"I have already spent more than 10 months in jail. Jail has freed me from the need to run the business and given me time to think more, to rethink my personal tragedy," said Khodorkovsky.

"I want to say that if I have a regret about anything, it is that I did not leave the business to focus fully on public activities earlier — in 2000 or 2001".

A few months before his arrest, Khodorkovsky said he planned to leave the business and turn his attention to politics sometime in 2007.

Many interpreted his words as an allusion to running in the 2008 presidential election, when Putin's second, and last, term expires.

But in his latest remarks, Khodorkovsky said that today he would rather spend more time with his wife and four children and studying history and philosophy.