PricewaterhouseCoopers staff remain keen to stay on in Russia despite months of gruelling involvement in the long-running investigation of oil giant Yukos.

The firm in Russia this week withdrew ten year’s worth of audit reports, saying they should ‘no longer be relied upon or associated with Yukos’s financial statements.’

Russian prosecutors have maintained a long campaign against the company and its former largest shareholder Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is currently serving eight years in prison following convictions for fraud and tax evasion.

PwC sources say the firm’s staff in Russia, which includes UK and US nationals, remain determined to stay on and serve remaining western clients still operating in the territory.

The firm also stands by the quality of its Yukos audits given the information that was provided. But in a statement this week the firm said: ‘PwC now believes information and representations which were provided to PwC by Yukos’s former management may not have been accurate.’