With our annual general meeting confirmed to be held in less than six weeks’ time, we can today disclose that there are set to be major amendments to the composition of our board, with a total of five changes anticipated to take place. Firstly, Rusneftegaz can announce that our long-standing company secretary, Andrey Uraev, and one of our independent directors, Eduard Rudakov, are to retire from their respective roles following this yearly event and are to be replaced in due course. The former first joined this organization in 2015 during a significant corporate restructuring and has diligently served in his post for over eight years, whereas the latter was appointed in 2019 and has provided invaluable insights to our leadership throughout his tenure. Consequently, we can notify that Valentin Sushkov and Gennadiy Safonov have been designated as their successors, with any accession subject to the approval of shareholders accordingly. Likewise, we can also divulge that Anatoliy Nazarov has been nominated to become our new Chief Operations Officer after the departure of his predecessor last year. Ivan Skorokhodov, who has acted as interim in this position since Vitaliy Kalyuzhniy left office, will similarly depart our corporation thereafter. In response to these important updates, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, issued this statement:
“The board and I would like to place on record our thanks to Andrey and Eduard for the amazing work that they have done in their time here. In their time here, they have had both great successes, be that helping us expand internationally or helping us during the pandemic. They have been great friends and colleagues, and I wish them both a very happy retirement. I would also like to pay tribute to Ivan, who had the unenviable job of becoming our Chief Operations Officer rather unexpectedly at what was one of the most challenging times of our recent history. His effort and determination to help us succeed last year was immense, and I wish him all the best for whatever he decides to do in the future. Now, it is obviously always sad to see talented people leave us whatever the circumstances, but I am confident that we have managed to find some great candidates to replace them.”
“To be honest, we have spent a long time over the past few months holding interviews with candidates from all over the world. We spent a long time debating who we thought would be best suited to each of these jobs, considering each of their merits and downsides. This is the first time that we have had to find people to serve as directors since 2019, and obviously circumstances have changed a lot since then. In fact, I would say that today Rusneftegaz barely resembles the company that it was at the beginning of 2019, with trading now being such a large percentage of our business. Personally, I am hoping that although this is obviously going to be a big change for us, that it will be completely seamless and that in a few months’ time no one is going to be able to tell what has changed. This is going to be big for us; these are some big boots to fill. Andrey and Eduard were great for us, but I’m very confident that we have managed to bring some talented people in to replace them.”
Although our management has been diligently prepared for the retirement of one of their colleagues for some time, it should be borne in mind that three departures within one calendar year were wholly unexpected and must be in no way construed as a reflection of the strategic decisions made in this timeframe. In fact, the outgoing Eduard Rudakov has recognized that in spite of the obvious challenges during the past few years, our organization has been largely unscathed, and it is therefore the correct time to make way for the next generation of leaders to take control. With this in mind, it is essential to stress that each of the individuals nominated for these positions is highly qualified for their new posts and has led distinguished careers to date. For instance, Nazarov has worked as an engineer for twelve different companies across the oil and gas industry in every corner of the globe before retiring to fulfill administrative duties, whereas Gennadiy Safonov has been a qualified accountant since his graduation from university in Moscow over four decades ago.
Similarly, the incoming company secretary has been employed by Rusneftegaz since 2009, currently acting as the understudy to Uraev, and is thus well-versed in the intricacies of our enterprise. While our executive leadership has full confidence in the quality of the nominees, each will be subject to a confirmatory vote at our upcoming annual general meeting in April. However, it must be noted that all these prospective appointments have already been discussed with our key stakeholders, and thus the result of the ballots is therefore considered a foregone conclusion. If each is approved as expected, the new members will commence their roles with immediate effect and be liable to reelection every year thereafter. Any questions pertaining to this topic must be directed via telephone or by email, but it should be acknowledged that this is an ongoing matter, and nothing will be finalized until after the election has taken place. We require your cooperation and understanding for the duration of this time.