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Khodorkovsky and Lebedev remain debtors

Bailiffs have not decided yet whether they will start active actions to enforce repayment of the 17.4-billion-ruble debt from ex-YUKOS co-owners Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev

MOSCOW, January 31. /ITAR-TASS World Service/. Bailiffs have not decided yet whether they will start active actions to enforce repayment of the 17.4-billion-ruble debt (over $490 million) from ex-YUKOS co-owners Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev released from jail, the chief of the Federal Service of Bailiffs, Artur Parfenchikov, said.

RBC daily writes that even if it is proved that Khodorkovsky has assets abroad, Russia's authorities cannot receive anything.

Lebedev is not barred from leaving the country for the present.

Attorneys of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, Vladimir Krasnov and Vadim Klyuvgant, told the daily that they had not received notification, and the defense’s positions had not changed — full cancellation of the sentences.

The investigation of the first YUKOS case of tax evasion lasted for almost two years and ended in May 2005 with the guilty verdict for Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. A court has also met the Federal Tax Service's civil suit for 17.4 billion rubles. In July 2013, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it was contrary to the law and chief executives should not be brought to account for tax evasion. However, the Russian Supreme Court has upheld the decision that the debt must be repaid.

There is no exact information how much money Khodorkovsky has. According to the Forbes, the ex-oligarch may claim $1.7 billion.

Itar-Tass is not responsible for the material quoted in these press reviews.

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