Russian president Mr Vladimir Putin has stripped adviser Mr Andrei Illarionov of a key role, after the maverick economist lambasted the state's legal assault on oil giant Yukos.

Mr Illarionov is famously outspoken, but his comments on the state-imposed sale of a key Yukos asset - which he called "the scam of the year" - were strong by his standards.

Mr Putin has said the sale of Yukos unit Yuganskneftegaz, bought for $9.4 billion (€7.08 billion) by state oil firm Rosneft, was legitimate.

The break-up of Yukos, one of Russia's most prosperous companies, but swamped by a $27 billion tax claim, is widely seen as a Kremlin vendetta against Yukos's politically ambitious key shareholder, Mr Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Mr Illarionov said the move on the oil company was being done by "monstrously unqualified and unprofessional people ... (with) a desire to expropriate private property". - (Reuters)