"Yevtushenkov is accused of helping to launder stolen state assets when Sistema purchased Bashneft and other energy companies from structures controlled by Ural Rakhimov, the son of the former president of Russia's Bashkortostan republic. A Moscow court said on Thursday Rakhimov had illegally acquired the assets. The republic allegedly lost more than $5bn when its energy companies were bought by Rakhimov in a privatisation deal more than a decade ago.
Many have compared Yevtushenkov's case to that of another oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose Yukos oil company was broken up and acquired by the state oil giant Rosneft after he was imprisoned on charges of privatisation fraud. Last week, the head of the major business group Russian Federation of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs called the Yevtushenkov case "Yukos 2.0". According to economy minister Alexei Ulyukayev, the case has damaged Russia's business climate and would increase capital flight."