Russian Oil Billionaire Arrested

The largest shareholder of a firm targeted by top Russian oil company Rosneft has been put under house arrest on charges of money laundering. The detention of Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the billionaire head of a group that owns the oil firm Bashneft, is already being compared to the murky case against Yukos oil-company founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In what’s unlikely to be a coincidence, Rosneft was recently looking to acquire Bashneft, which has seen its shares drop by more than 20 percent since Yevtushenkov was arrested this week. Vladimir Putin’s spokesman denies there were any political motives. Khodorkovsky was detained in 2003 and spent 10 years in Russian prisons, while Yukos was broken up with parts bought by Rosneft.