U.S. President George Bush yesterday hosted two Israeli-Russian businessmen who are wanted by Moscow for alleged tax offenses.

The two men, Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov, are shareholders in the giant Russian oil enterprise, Yukos. They currently reside in Israel, along with a business partner, Leonid Nevzelin. They were invited to a White House breakfast as guests of Congressmen Tom Lantos and Christopher Cox.

Following a Russian request for their extradition, the two are wanted by Interpol.

Brudno, Dubov and Nevzelin claim that the arrest warrants against them were issued at the order of the Russian president as part of a campaign of political intimidation against reformists. According to the three, former Yukos chairman Mikhail Khodorkovski, who has been in a Moscow jail for the past 16 months, was arrested for the same reason.

Yukos and its major stockholders have supported centrist, democratic Russian political parties, and donated large sums of money to them. In recent years, Russian authorities began investigating the company, its managers and major stockholders, many of whom are of Jewish origin. (© Copyright 2005 Haaretz. 02/04/05)