Yukos Oil, the embattled Russian energy giant that locked horns with President Vladimir Putin, has hired Burson-Marsteller's BKSH & Assocs. lobbying unit, to keep Washington abreast of political, legal and business developments.

CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who financed political opposition parties to Putin and had plans to run for the presidency, was arrested at gunpoint in October, charged with embezzlement charges.

That arrest triggered the collapse of plans to merge Yukos, which is Russia's No. 1 energy giant, with No. 3, Siibneft.

Khodorkovsky also has irritated Putin with his loud support for the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Yukos, meanwhile, is fighting a $3 billion assessment for back taxes, according to the May 21 New York Times.

BKSH has assigned a eight-member team of its top-drawer lobbyists to make the case for Yukos.

Charlie Black (advisor to both President Bush) spearheads the team that includes president Scott Pastrick (former Democratic National Committee treasurer), vice chairman M.B. Oglesby (deputy chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan), managing director Gardner Peckham (staffer to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich) and directors Paul Brown (aide to ex- Majority Leader Tom Daschle), Katherine Friess (aide to former Sen. Larry Pressler) and Jeffrey Weiss (member of the Bush/Cheney transition team).