Russian oilman says probe is political

[Rose Siding]

MOSCOW -- Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky, chief of Russia's largest oil company Yukos, said Friday that high-level politics were behind the probe by Russian prosecutors into his company's business and stressed that the affair was far from over.

Khodorkovsky, who is Russia's richest man and who has irritated the Kremlin by his interest in politics, told reporters that "the methods used in these cases testify that our law enforcement system is far from being in order."

The probe by the prosecutor-general's office into Yukos has made foreign and Russian investors nervous. "For the time being, the situation is far from being solved," Khodorkovsky told reporters following a reception attended by many ambassadors at the Swiss embassy in honor of Confederation Day, a Swiss national holiday.

Critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government claim that the probe is politically motivated and a warning to Khodorkovsky to stay out of politics.

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