President of Russia Vladimir Putin declared that YUKOS would not be nationalized.
      
       “The state has never intended and will not aim to nationalize YUKOS”, - said Mr. Putin at the Congress of information agencies.
      
       However, the president noted that “if this company’s assets will be on sale in future, state enterpises can take part in purchasing it”. “But it has never been and will not be the government’s target”, - said he.
      
       “YUKOS management was accused of tax evasion”, - reminded Mr. Putin, pointing that “YUKOS pleaded the charges and lost all the cases”. In this connection V.Putin stated: “The state has the full right to secure its interests in strict correspondence with the law”.
      
       Besides the Russian president noted that YUCOS case has nothing to do with the merger of Gasprom and Rosneft. According to him the merger is a purely marketing decision, meant to clarify the situation within Gasprom, to influence favorably the quotations of stocks of the gas holding and make it more attractive.
      
       As President said, the state “will meanwhile control the stake of the joint enterprise of Gasprom and Rosneft”. “In Gasprom now there are two types of shares – those sold in the country and abroad, and that should be changed”, - stressed the president of Russia.