Belarus official: Wanted Russian oil tycoon did not fly from Minsk

The Belarus's border guard agency has no information that Mikhail Gutsariyev, the ex-head of Russneft oil company departed from a Belarus airport to Turkey, the Belarus border control committee said on Thursday. "Even if Gutsariyev did cross the border, he did as an obedient citizen, because the border control committee had received no requests or orders from competent agencies," the Russian news agency  Ria-Novosti quotes an anonymous source as saying.

The Russian oligarch Mikhail Gutsariyev is wanted by the Russian prosecutors on criminal charges of tax embezzlement through Interpol.

Experts suggest that the ex-owner of Russneft is paying a price for his desire to enter big politics. His 21-year-old son died in unclear circumstances in August 2007.

Some news sources report that Gutsariyev is currently in Turkey. The Russian Office of Prosecutor General said yesterday that the wanted oligarch flew there from Belarus.