Russia stepped up pressure on embattled oil major Yukos yesterday saying it had put 10 people from the firm or related to it on Interpol's wanted list after having already arrested several key owners.

Interfax news agency quoted the first deputy to General Prosecutor Yuri Biryukov as saying major owners of Yukos Leonid Nevzlin, Vladimir Dubov and Mikhail Brudno, who were reported to have fled Russia to Israel, were on the list.

Mr Biryukov was also quoted as saying the remaining seven people were charged with setting up firms that helped Yukos evade taxes. Yukos declined immediate comments.

In October, prosecutors arrested Yukos's key shareholder and Russia's richest man Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of tax evasion and fraud, a move seen as being orchestrated by the Kremlin to punish the billionaire for political activities.

Another key owner, Platon Lebedev, has been in jail since July on charges of massive fraud, while the sixth biggest owner, Vasily Shakhnovsky, is under house arrest in Moscow pending trial on charges of tax evasion and faces 18 months in prison.

Mr Biryukov said Mr Nevzlin faced charges of property embezzlement for $39 million and tax evasion of 26.7 million roubles ($936,500).

He said Mr Dubov faced charges of theft of state funds and Mr Brudno was accused of stealing revenues of third parties worth $2.8 million.

Shares of Yukos, which have been already underperforming the broader market in early trade yesterday, slid by another percentage point after the announcement. They traded 2.4 per cent lower at 299.5 roubles on the MICEX bourse and 2.5 per cent down at $10.55 on the RTS exchange at 1100 GMT.