Co-founder of gold miner Petropavlovsk charged with embezzlement -Interfax

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Pavel Maslovskiy, the co-founder and former chief executive at London-listed Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk, has been charged with alleged embezzlement and detained pending trial, Interfax new agency quoted a Moscow court as saying.

Maslovskiy was detained by investigators from Russia's internal affairs ministry before obtaining the two-month pre-trial detention order from the court, the news agency said on Friday.

Maslovskiy, who turns 64 on Friday, founded Petropavlovsk with British businessman Peter Hambro in the 1990s but stepped down from the company in August.

Reuters' calls to Maslovskiy's mobile phone were unanswered and Reuters was also unable to contact his legal representatives on Friday.

Maslovskiy is suspected of embezzling at least 95 million roubles ($1.3 million) from Petropavlovsk's Pokrovsky mine subsidiary, Interfax quoted an unnamed source as saying.

($1 = 73.8850 roubles)

(Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by David Goodman)