The Chinese Foreign Ministry denied Thursday that China had provided six billion US dollars for Russia's Rosneft to purchase Yuganskneftegaz, a major subsidiary of Yukos, the scandal-plaugued Russian oil company.

China did not provide "funds" to Rosneft to buy Yuganskneftegaz, but the Foreign Ministry could not confirm whether there were any "loans" involved, ministry spokesman Kong Quan said at a regular press conference.

It was reported that Russia's Vnesheconombank had borrowed the loan from Chinese banks to credit Rosneft for the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz, which was put up for auction in December to raise money for the payment of Yukos' multi-billion-dollar back tax bill.

Rosneft had paid 9.4 billion US dollars for the acquisition of Yuganskneftegaz after it purchased Baikalfinansgroup, the previously unknown company that unexpectedly won the bid for Yuganskneftegaz, which produces 60 percent of Yukos's output.

The sale has been considered as a key stage of the year-and-a-half judicial campaign against Yukos.