THE assets of Yukos could end up in the hands of Russia’s Gazprom gas company and the Chinese state oil firm, Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, hinted yesterday.

The Russian leader said that he knew the identity of the shareholders of Baikal Finance Group, the obscure vehicle that won Sunday’s auction of Yuganskneftegaz, the core oil producing subsidiary of Yukos.

During a visit to Germany, Mr Putin said that the Baikal investors were “individuals” who had “worked many years in the energy sphere”.

He added that the investors “build ties with other energy companies in Russia”, while pointing to the possible participation of state companies and the Chinese national oil company, CNPC.

Mr Putin’s comments came as the Moscow press identified two employees of Surgutneftegaz, the Russian oil company, as the Baikal bidders present in the auction room on Sunday.

Yukos has initiated bankruptcy proceedings in Houston, Texas, seeking to prevent the transfer of the Yugansk shares. Meanwhile, Menatep, the financial group that holds the interests of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed Yukos shareholder, has threatened to pursue purchasers in Western courts.

Tim Osborne, a director of Menatep, described the sale to Baikal as “a holding operation” pending the ulitmate transfer of the assets to Gazprom. “Anybody that has it [Yugansk] is on notice that they are not receiving good title,” he said.

The sale of Yuganskneftegaz by the Russian state property fund for $9.3 billion (£4.8 billion) has been condemned as an expropriation by the directors of Yukos.

Surgutneftegaz is Russia’s fourth-largest oil firm and reckoned to be the least Westernised of the privatised Russian oil groups. It has accumulated a large cash pile and its management is believed to be closely aligned with the Kremlin.

The Russian President’s reference to the Baikal investors as “individuals” is thought by some to be a possible reference to Gennady Timchenko, an oil trader with a background in the former KGB.

Mr Timchenko was named as Mr Putin’s personal business affairs manager by Ivan Rybkin, an unsuccessful candidate for the Russian presidency in the last election. Mr Timchenko is believed to have an interest in Kinex, which trades oil for Surgutneftegaz.

CNPC has long sought a stake in Russian oil and some analysts reckon that the Chinese could play a role in financing the break-up and nationalisation of Yukos. The Chinese Government is anxious to build a pipeline from oilfields in Eastern Siberia to its refinery complex in Daqing.

The German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, came to the aid of his Russian guest yesterday when he agreed with Mr Putin that the Yukos affair was an “internal Russian problem” and should not be used to drive a wedge between the two countries.

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