The Yukos scandal goes on amid criticism and mutual accusations. Andrei N. Illarionov, President Putin’s senior economic adviser, who called the auction of Yuganskneftegaz “the scam of the year”, has been stripped of his duties as Russia’s envoy to the Group of 8, a union of industrialized nations. Mr. Illarionov will keep his principal post for the time being, according to his spokeswoman, but will be replaced by a more loyal Kremlin insider Igor Shuvalov.

Mr. Illarionov has been often critical of Mr. Putin’s policies, and this time he lashed on the Russian administration’s tight grip on the media, the new rules that will replace governors elected through popular vote by Kremlin appointees, and the flops in foreign policy, most vividly exemplified in Ukraine’s presidential elections where the final winner was the opposition leader Victor Yushchenko despite the extensive support lent by Putin to the pro-power candidate Victor Yanukovych.

Commenting on the sale of Yukos’ main oil production facility, Mr. Illarionov said that the case offers evidence that "financial flows are rerouted from the most effective companies to the least effective ones."

"This entire affair regrettably demonstrates that any of the official or semiofficial explanations given to the public regarding the Yukos affair do not have a leg to stand on," said the Kremlin’s senior economic adviser.
Mr. Illarionov also noted that limited competition in all spheres of life may lead to stagnation and reduce Russia to the rank of a third-world country.

On Monday Robert Amsterdam, the lawyer representing Yukos’ main shareholder, Menatep, accused the German government of complying with the Kremlin in the auction of Yugansk. In Mr. Amsterdam’s opinion, Deutsche Bank was acting as a “proxy” for the German administration when its lawyers filed a motion asking the Texas court to repeal the bankruptcy protection for Yukos.

Menatep’s lawyer referred to the warm personal relationship between Putin and Shroeder implying that the German chancellor used the country’s good record in financial circles to back Putin’s actions.
“This is a case of reputation laundering. Schroder is behind this. It is a big scandal,” Mr Amsterdam said.