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The former Moscow mayor is ready to engage in big business

The former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who got out of sight of the media, is ready to engage in big business and put into practice his education in chemistry. On Tuesday, it was reported that Luzhkov will be elected in the board of directors of the Russian United Petrochemical Company. He gave his consent to this.

“I agreed long ago to become a member of the board of directors and passed the documents necessary for this in the company,” Luzhkov told the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily.

On June 26, the shareholders voted for this decision at their meeting. However, Luzhkov noted that he did not attend the meeting, because he was present at a student graduation ceremony at the International University (in Moscow). The former mayor noted that the election of the chairman of the board of directors was not on the agenda and this vacancy remains open. “I was offered to head the board of directors. But I did not accept the decision,” the newspaper quoted Luzhkov as saying.

Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the main shareholder of AFK Sistema, which owns 75% of stock in the United Petrochemical Company, stated about the agreement of the former mayor, who is the chemist by education, to work in the company, the Vedomosti daily reported. Back in April 2011 Yevtushenkov stated that Luzhkov is pondering over a job offer in his new company. Then he noted that the Russian leadership does not oppose this appointment.

The relations between the Kremlin and the former Moscow mayor are passing through the hard times, the newspaper noted. After a scandalous dismissal Luzhkov levelled harsh criticism on the Russian authorities and the ruling party United Russia. At the same time he brought his family abroad, claiming that it is unsafe for his relatives to stay in Russia. The former mayor and his wife Yelena Baturina are the witnesses in the criminal case about the suspected misappropriation at the Bank of Moscow, which was the main bank of the Moscow Mayor’s Office.

The United Petrochemical Company was registered in Moscow in December 2011 with the charter capital of ten million euros. The founders of the company are Bashneft, which is controlled by AFK Sistema and the Petrochemical Holding, which is registered in Austria and is owned by the former CEO of the largest Russian petrochemical company Sibur Yakov Goldovsky. On Tuesday, the board of directors of the new company approved the strategy of its development, which envisages the merger of the assets of its founders with the focus on the development of oil refining that is a high octane fuel and the materials for the production of plastic. In the prospects for five years the United Petrochemical Company is planning to get in the top three largest Russian petrochemical companies for the amount of their sales.