Ex-co-owner of top cell phone retailer wanted in Russia - paper

The founder and former co-owner of Russia's top mobile phone retailer Euroset, Yevgeny Chichvarkin, has been put on the federal wanted list, a respected business daily said on Friday.

Investigators suspect Chichvarkin of authorizing the 2003 kidnapping of Euroset's shipping agent, Andrei Vlaskin, who allegedly stole large quantities of mobile phones from the company and then sold them on through a retail outlet he had set up for the purpose.

Kommersant said the Investigation Department of the Russian Prosecutor General's office has also filed a motion with a Moscow court to sanction the businessman's arrest in absentia. Chichvarkin, who is also a leader of the recently-formed Pravoye Delo (Right Cause) right-wing liberal party, is currently believed to be in London.

A spokeswoman for the Moscow City Court said the motion is expected to be heard on January 28.

"A hearing on measures to remand Chichvarkin in custody was received by Moscow's Basmanny Court and will be heard on January 28," Anna Usacheva said.

A spokesman for the Investigation Department of the Russian Prosecutor General's office declined to comment on the information.

Investigators have also accused Euroset's former deputy security chief Boris Levin, his deputy Alexander Yemilin and two members of the company's security personnel of Vlaskin's abduction.

Chichvarkin's lawyer maintains that his defendant could not be involved in the abduction, as he was "in charge of strategic issues" at the company.