Rusneftegaz can confirm that our long-serving Chief Financial Officer, Mikhail Avdeyev, will take an extended leave of absence from his position with immediate effect for medical reasons. During this time, his role will be fulfilled on an interim basis by his understudy, Dmitry Zubkov, until he is fit to return to his duties at a later date. Our leadership has sent its best wishes to both him and his family, and remains wholly optimistic that he will be able to resume his work before the end of the year. In response to these developments, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, issued the following statement:

“The board and I are incredibly shocked and concerned by this news. We all wish Mikhail and his family all the best while he gets through this. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be back with us in no time. That said, I also have total confidence in Dmitry to do a great job in his absence. He has proven himself to be a great asset to this company in the time that he has worked here, and we wish him all the best in his interim role for however long it lasts.”

For the duration of this period, it has been agreed that Avdeyev will continue to serve on our board of directors and will remain on the ballot for re-election at our upcoming annual general meeting, which is scheduled to be held at the beginning of April. Due to the nature of this situation, we will be making no further statements on this particular state of affairs and will not be providing updates until he returns to his role. We shall similarly not be accepting any inquiries pertaining to this matter at this time, considering the circumstances involved. We necessitate your cooperation and understanding with this urgent issue.