Russian authorities found a new victim after Yukos - it demands a $158 million from nation?s No. 2 telecoms firm VympelCom as tax claim for 2001, the company said on Wednesday.
This news triggered fears that Russian tax ministry may become addicted with extorting money from successful national companies and many companies will soon be involved in government?s hunt. Another Russian telecoms company, MTS, has been already named to be the next.
"Everybody was thinking about who will become the next and here we are," said analyst Andrei Kukk at bank UralSib.
VympelCom confirmed in a statement it had received a demand of 4.4 billion roubles for 2001. It said it did not agree with the tax authorities' conclusions and would object.
