MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia does not aim to nationalise embattled oil giant Yukos but state firms could bid for assets of the company if they are sold to pay off the company's multi-billion-dollar tax debts, President Vladimir Putin said.
"The state has not set a goal of nationalising this company, and there is no such goal today."
"If this situation leads to the sale of assets, of course, any company including state firms could participate in this," he told a meeting of international media executives in Moscow.
"But I repeat that there has not been and will not be any goal of nationalisation, seizing it for the state," Putin added.
Yukos is facing the forced sale of its main production asset, Yuganskneftegaz, which accounts for 60 percent of the firm's oil output, to pay off more than 7.5 billion dollars in back tax demands by the state.
Russia's number one oil producer accuses the Kremlin of artificially driving it towards bankruptcy as a political vendetta against its main owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is in jail facing trial on fraud and tax evasion charges.