MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Russia has asked Interpol to put a top Russian businessman suspected of tax evasion on its international wanted list, officials said Friday.

"The Russian general prosecutor's office has sent a request to Interpol to put on its wanted list the former general director of Eldorado, Alexander Shifrin," a spokeswoman told AFP.

Shifrin, the former head of the Eldorado chain of appliance and consumer electronics stores, is thought to have fled Russia after coming under investigation last year on accusations of tax evasion.

A representative with the Russian branch of Interpol - the international police liaison agency based in Lyon, France - said the agency had not yet received the Russian request for help.

"But if they've sent it, we'll get it," Interpol representative Svetlana Zuyeva said.

Russia has in recent years stepped up legal action against businessmen deemed to have violated the law, notably following the 2003 arrest of former Yukos oil company head Mikhail Khodorkosvky.

Khodorkovsky is currently serving an eight-year sentence following his conviction in May 2005 for fraud and tax evasion and is simultaneously on trial again for related charges.

In June, the Russian authorities asked Britain to extradite Yevgeny Chichvarkin, a flamboyant tycoon and co-founder of the country's leading phone retailer believed to have fled to London.