A Russian tycoon placed under house arrest in September in a move that rattled markets was released from house arrest on Tuesday, just hours before President Vladimir Putin’s annual televised press conference. A lawyer for Vladimir Yevtushenkov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying his client had been freed. The last-minute release echoes a similar move last year, when Putin announced after his annual press conference that another tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, would be set free. “Vladimir Petrovich (Yevtushenkov) is now a free man who can work productively,” lawyer Vladimir Kozin said. Shares in Sistema, a company that Yevtushenkov controls and manages, surged by more than 30 percent in the early hours of trading on Moscow’s MICEX stock exchange. One of Sistema’s most lucrative assets – the oil company Bashneft – was transferred to the government this month. Yevtushenkov in September was charged with money-laundering in […]