Few tears at Yukos at Mikhail’s arrest

Mikhail’s Khodorkovsky is a corporate hero in the West, but his arrest arouses little concern in Nefteyugansk

Sympathy for Mikhail Khodokovsky, Rusia’s imprisoned oil magnate, is in short supply among workers in the bleak Siberian town of Nefteyugansk, the main production site of the Yukos oil company.

Ivan Stepanovich, a drilling master at Pravdinsk oil field says he is angry with Russia’s richest man who was arrested last month on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

“I am paid Rbs 13,000 ($436) a month and live in a one bedroom flat with a sick wife and two children. Everyone talks about his charity but we have not seen much of it here. The best thing he has done for us is this uniform, “he says pointing to his ear-flapped Chinese made hat with a Yukos logo.

Mr Khodorkovsky resigned as the chief executive of Yukos in what he described as an attempt to protect his company. He promised “to give all my strength to my country – Russia – in the great future of which I firmly believe”. But the workers in Nefteyugansk are doubtful.

While in the eyes of many western investors Mr Khodorkovsky is viewed as a new breed of businessman and a champion of transparency and corporate governance, his own workers in Nefteyugansk, a company town built on the marshes of the Taiga forest, may need more convincing about the virtues of their former boss.