The Russian Justice Ministry will sell part of the Yukos oil company's assets to cover its back taxes, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday.

The ministry announced in a statement that it has completed thevaluation of Yuganskneftegaz, the major oil-producing subsidiary of Yukos, and planned to sell part of its property through the Russian Federal Property Fund.

The Itar-Tass news agency said the Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein investment bank has valued Yuganskneftegaz, which accounts for about 60 percent of Yukos' output, at 10.4 billion USdollars.

"As the assessment of Yuganskneftegaz has now been completed, and the time of debt payments unjustifiably dragged out, the Justice Ministry's main department for Moscow, in keeping with the federal law on executive proceedings, has resolved to sell part of Yuganskneftegaz's property through the Russian Federal Property Fund," said the ministry.

Yukos' current debt stands at 3.73 billion dollars and the paceof its settlement does not satisfy either the Justice Ministry or the tax authorities, said Alexander Buksman, head of the ministry's Main Directorate, according to Itar-Tass.

Yukos has only paid back 10 million dollars and the debt payment period has proved unduly long, Buksman noted.

Yukos, Russia's second largest oil producer that has been struggling to pay a multi-billion-dollar back taxes claimed for the year 2000 and 2001, has warned that the bill would drive it into bankruptcy.

Source: Xinhua