Putin lashes out at Khodorkovsky

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday vigorously defended the imprisonment of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, accusing him and his associates of ordering murders of their rivals.

Putin got a question about Khodorkovsky during his four-hour televised call-in show.

"The well-known person in question is in a penitentiary facility because of a court verdict," he said.

Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man and the major shareholder of oil giant Yukos, was convicted of tax evasion and fraud in 2005 and is serving eight years in prison. The case has been widely seen as Kremlin punishment for his harboring political ambitions.

Putin and his business associates of ordering the killings of opponents and commercial rivals.

A former Yukos security chief, Alexei Pichugin, has been sentenced to life for several murders and attempts of murder.

"Clearly, he was acting in interests of his bosses and followed their instructions," Putin said.

Pichugin's lawyer, Ksenia Kostromina, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that her client has never admitted guilt. Nor has he admitted receiving any instructions from anyone, she said.

Yukos — once Russia's largest oil company — was dismantled and auctioned off with most of its assets falling into the hands of state-controlled Rosneft in 2007.

Putin revealed how the government spent the proceeds from the Yukos auctions. He said he had insisted back then that the money would to go help "the people that Yukos has robbed."

"Proceeds from the sale of Yukos — some 240 billion rubles ($8.2 billion) — have formed a fund to help build renovate housing and utilities in Russia," he said.

The state-owned Housing and Utilities Fund aims to renovate dilapidated housing across Russia. Critics said that the reform of state-owned utilities and housing is going too slowly, and most of Russian infrastructure is dangerously outdated and gets little attention from state officials.

Khodorkovsky is on trial in Moscow for fresh charges of money laundering and embezzlement that could keep the former tycoon locked up for another 22 years.