Russian investigators raid homes of Khodorkovsky's employees

Russian investigators and police have raided the homes of at least five people working for an exiled oligarch in connection with a decades-old dispute over what was once Russia's largest oil producer.

The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Thursday that the raid relates to the 2003 criminal case involving the Yukos oil company.

Russian television on Thursday showed footage of a policeman putting a man face-down on the floor and holding his hands behind his back.

Yukos was disbanded in 2007 after filing for bankruptcy, and its owner and head Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sent to prison in what was largely seen as the Kremlin's payback for his political ambitions. Khodorkovsky was pardoned after serving a decade in prison. He continues to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin from exile.