The former CEO of Russia's Yukos oil company has been arrested in absentia on charges of organizing murders

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been arrested in absentia on charges of organizing murders and put on an international wanted list, Russian Investigative Committee (IC) spokesman Vladimir Markin said on Wednesday. "After considering the petition of the Russian Investigative Committee’s department on investigating particularly important cases, the court has chosen detention as the measure of restraint against Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been put on an international wanted list," Markin said.

Read also Ex-Yukos chief ready to testify only to Swiss authorities in Siberian mayor murder case

He reminded that Khodorkovsky was earlier called for questioning as a suspect in organizing murder and attempting to murder two or more people. Moscow’s Basmanny court confirmed the arrest in absentia of Khodrkovsky, the court’s press secretary Yunona Tsareva told TASS. The term of arrest - two months - will be counted from the moment of detaining Khodorkovsky. Russia’s Investigative Committee in early December brought charges in absentia against former head of the now defunct oil company Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky, accusing him of organizing murders. According to the investigation, Khodorkovsky who was a shareholder and the board chairman of the oil company Yukos instructed his subordinates to organize the murder of Nefteyugansk Mayor Vladimir Petukhov and entrepreneur Yevgeny Rybkin. Leonid Nevzlin, Alexey Pichugin, Gennady Tsigelnik, Yevgeny Reshetnikov and Vladimir Shapiro were earlier convicted for these crimes. Khodorkovsky, who currently resides in Switzerland, has denied involvement in the murder of Vladimir Petukhov. He noted that he was ready to answer any questions over this criminal case only to the Swiss authorities. "If the country where I live now finds it necessary for me to answer these questions, I will do that."