The Russian state has frozen a controlling stake in oil giant Yukos in a dramatic escalation of a confrontation between the Kremlin and big business.
Within an hour of the move by judicial authorities, President Vladimir Putin was reported by Russian news agencies to be in a meeting with foreign investors at the Kremlin. There was no immediate comment from Putin on the day's events.
Yukos has been the target since early July of legal action by the Russian justice authorities. Chief Executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested at gunpoint at the weekend and charged on seven counts of tax evasion and massive fraud.
The impounding of shares in a top private Russian company appeared to be almost without precedent since the collapse of the Soviet Union and communism in 1991. It has raised deep fears among Western businessmen of further state intervention.
Yukos said judicial authorities had frozen 44% of the company's chartered capital, though the shares retained voting and dividend rights. The shares belong to Khodorkovsky and his allies. No other group or alliance could match the holding to challenge for control.
Yukos's stock price, in retreat throughout the day, plunged 12% on the news and shares in other oil companies dropped sharply.
Khodorkovsky, one of the 'oligarchs' who made their fortunes in the post-Soviet sell-off of state assets, supports liberal opponents of Putin in December's parliamentary polls. Putin is seeking re-election in a separate poll next March.
