* Putin Offers To Make Peace With BusinessRussian President Vladimir Putin last week tried to draw a line under the Yukos affair and reassure the business sector that the era of arbitrary tax assessments is over.Finally recognizing the immense damage that has been done by the state's attack on Yukos, or more likely concluding that its enemy is securely beaten, Putin told business leaders at a Kremlin meeting that he would support a shortening of period during which the Statute of Limitations permits past privatizations to be re-opened."I think it is possible to support shortening the statute of limitations on privatization deals from 10 years to three years," said Putin. "This will help the business community look into the future with greater certainty, draw up promising development plans and make new investments. And I hope reassure entrepreneurs about the security of property rights."
Putin also said that reform of the tax system was an obvious necessity. Alexander Shokhin, chairman of Renaissance Capital's supervisory board, and a long-time prominent political leader, told the Kremlin meeting that there was some disagreement in the business community about which taxes needed to be modified first but everyone agreed that tax collection procedures and related processes should be addressed first.
Shares on the Moscow stock exchange shot up 4% after the meeting. But a slew of commentators, while welcoming the announcements, said that the government needed to act swiftly and comprehensively before the 'Yukos affair' could be said to be truly over. And it certainly isn't over for Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who remains in prison while his trial on tax fraud continues.