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To: Mannie who wrote (2849)	11/3/2003 10:17:11 AM
From: Mannie	Respond to of 108556

Khodorkovsky Plans to Step Down Imprisoned Billionaire Wants to Concentrate on His Legal Defense <A likely person to step in as acting head of YukosSibneft is an American, Steven M. Theede, a longtime executive at ConocoPhillips > By Peter Baker and Susan B. Glasser Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, November 3, 2003; 9:45 AM MOSCOW, Nov. -- Imprisoned billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky plans to step down as chief executive of the giant YukosSibneft oil company so that he can concentrate on his legal defense and contemplate his political future, sources familiar with the situation said Monday. Khodorkovsky, who was arrested at gunpoint by masked commandos Oct. 25 and subsequently charged with tax evasion, fraud and forgery, on Tuesday will turn over the reins of the oil company he built into Russia's largest, according to the sources. He will step aside temporarily "so that the company could keep moving forward while he fights the charges," said one source in Khodorkovsky's camp. Another source added that the move would also allow Khodorkovsky to explore a possible challenge to President Vladimir Putin in next March's election. A likely person to step in as acting head of YukosSibneft is an American, Steven M. Theede, a longtime executive at ConocoPhillips who moved over to the Russian company just two months ago. Theede, 51, a Kansas native, was installed last week as head of Yukos-Moscow, the oil firm's management company, replacing Vasily Shakhnovsky, a Khodorkovsky partner who has also been charged with tax evasion. YukosSibneft has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday to discuss "management" issues but made no statements Monday on Khodorkovsky's future. Khodorkovsky's decision to relinquish command at YukosSibneft, just a month after completing a merger making it the world's fourth largest oil producer, signals a dramatic shift in strategy for Russia's richest man. Khodorkovsky has characterized his prosecution as a political vendetta by the Kremlin and seems increasingly determined to take his fight to the political arena armed with all the resources at his disposal, including a personal fortune once estimated at $8 billion. As his allies see it, Khodorkovsky's departure as corporate chieftain would allow him the freedom to become a full-fledged leader of the scattered and disjointed opposition to Putin. Advisers have researched election law and concluded that he can run for president from behind bars as long as he has not yet been convicted. "He had no ambition to become a politician," said a source close to the situation. "But the attacks on Yukos and his own imprisonment, whether he likes it or not, they have turned him into a politician. So what you will see is Khodorkovsky will drift away from Yukos to free himself of the responsibility he had as CEO and assume even in prison the mantle of politician." Despite much speculation about his presidential ambitions, Khodorkovsky until now had long told associates that he did not harbor such plans because he believed that the business tycoons known as oligarchs could never win a national vote, particularly those with a Jewish father as he has. But his allies are banking on the premise that his imprisonment has altered the political equation. Not only has he drawn support among the elite from many parts of the political spectrum, his advisers believe that ordinary Russians respond emotionally to those who are politically persecuted. Some analysts agree that Putin has only made Khodorkovsky more sympathetic, if not necessarily popular. "His political future now is much more healthy than a few weeks ago," Yulia Latynina, a political commentator, said in an interview. "Before, the oligarch had no chance in the election. So now he has a chance. If they wanted to annihilate him politically, this is the worst thing they could have done." Mikhail Delyagin, head of the Institute for Globalization Studies and a former economic adviser to Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, said Khodorkovsky's arrest had made him into a political symbol for all "market-oriented people" in Russia, one who could command a real electoral following. "If Khodorkovsky positions himself in the proper way, he will become the standard-bearer for these people -- not during the 2008 elections but during the 2004 elections," Delyagin said. "He will not be able to win, but he might be able to finish in second place." Khodorkovsky's camp takes heart from unscientific indicators such as the listener survey on Echo Moskvy radio station last week in which 87 percent of those responding on the Internet and 75 percent of those phoning in said they would vote for Khodorkovsky over Putin next March.