A US judge has dismissed Russian oil company Yukos's US bankruptcy case after saying the issue required the participation of the Russian government.
In her ruling, US Bankruptcy Judge Letitia Clark noted that the filing was the largest ever in the United States by assets, but said no legal precedent existed for a foreign company that was such a large part of another's country's economy to use the US court.
The ruling ends two months of legal manoeuvring by Yukos to pull the US courts into the battle between the company and the Kremlin.
The case had threatened to open a rift between the United States and Russia, which has moved to bring under Kremlin control energy resources sold off in the chaotic privatisations of the 1990s.
Yukos has complained it was the victim of a Russian government-orchestrated campaign to destroy it and former owner Mr Mihkail Khodorkovsky, who is facing a 10-year prison term for fraud and tax evasion.
The Russian government, which has levied a $27.5 billion back tax bill on Yukos, has steadfastly denied it would abide by any rulings from US courts on the issue, and it did not appear as a participant in the case.