Putin pursues foreign business

By Alex Nicholson
Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin assured U.S. business leaders yesterday that his government remained committed to free-market principles and welcomed foreign investment, addressing concerns raised by the jailing of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Putin told executives from companies including Citigroup, Intel and IBM that he hoped U.S.-Russian economic ties would continue to grow.

"In the next three to four years, we can go to a higher level, we have all the preconditions for this," Putin said at the start of the meeting at the 18th-century Konstantin Palace outside St. Petersburg.

While Putin did not refer to the state's carve-up of Yukos oil company in his opening remarks, some Russian media viewed the meeting as the Kremlin's attempt to assuage foreign investors shaken by the near-destruction of what was once Russia's largest oil producer.

Observers saw the crackdown on Yukos as punishment for the political ambitions of its founder, Khodorkovsky.

Putin promised yesterday that his government would work to streamline tax regulations and set clear rules for foreigners' involvement in Russia's energy sector and other key areas of the national economy.

Khodorkovsky was sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted of tax evasion and fraud in the privatization of companies in the 1990s.