“The appointment of Alexei Miller, a man close and personally devoted to Vladimir Putin, the Head of the Board of OAO Gazprom confirms the desireof the authorities to have total control over all spheres of life in the country.” This statement was made to the press by Deputy Head of theYabloko faction Sergei Ivanenko on May 30, 2001.

“Proceeding from the norms of civil society, it would be reasonable to conduct open discussions of candidates to the head of the largestmonopoly in the country,” noted Ivanenko. A more open transparent and competitive resolution of such staffing appointments, stressed Ivanenko, would be inthe interests of the authorities, as “this line towards the creation of asystem of control also implies the complete responsibility of the President forall the developments in the country.”

Ivanenko also noted that it is still too early to make any forecastsabout the possible consequences of this appointment of Alexei Miller as headof the company from the point of view of the efficiency of management andthe transparency of its structures. “The present positive reaction of themarket (a 5% rise in the Gazprom share price) to the changes in the managementof Gazprom is more likely a reaction to the idleness and inefficiency ofits former management,” noted Ivanenko.

Based on RBC reports