June 24, 2006	Saturday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1427

MOSCOW, June 23: Russian oil company Yukos has asked the British markets watchdog to block an initial public offering of shares by Rosneft, the Russian state oil group that it accuses of stealing its assets, Yukos said on Friday.

“Yukos has filed this document of 33 pages on Wednesday night to the Financial Services Authorities” in London, said Yukos spokeswoman Claire Davidson.

Yukos alleges the offering would amount to the sale of stolen property.

Rosneft, which plans to list on the London and Moscow stock exchanges as soon as next month, bought Yukos’ main production asset, Yuganskneftegaz, in 2004 at what the market saw as a knockdown price.—AFP