MOSCOW. May 24. /TASS/. Sergey Kupriyanov, head of the department of PJSC Gazprom and press secretary of the chairman of the board of Gazprom, has been appointed chairman of the board of directors of VK, the company said in a statement.

"VK Company Limited announces changes to the Board of Directors and the appointment of the Chairman of the Board. Sergey Kupriyanov has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company. He joined the Board on December 14, 2021 as a non-executive director. Sergey Kupriyanov has been the press secretary of the Chairman of the Management Board of PJSC Gazprom since 2003, as well as the head of the department of PJSC Gazprom since 2019," according to the statement.

Maria Zybina, executive vice president of Gazprombank, has been appointed to the position of non-executive director of the board of directors of VK. "She is the executive vice president of Gazprombank, responsible for managing digital assets. Maria has been working in the financial sector for more than 20 years," VK specified.

On May 11, VK co-founder Dmitry Grishin stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Directors and non-executive director of the company.

VK, formerly known as Mail.ru Group, is a Russian internet company. VK's sites reach approximately 86% of Russian Internet users on a monthly basis and the company is in the top 5 of largest Internet companies, based on the number of total pages viewed. In October 2021, Mail.ru Group was rebranded as VK, after its most popular property (VKontakte social network).

The shareholders of VK are: MF Technologies (4.8% of the economic and 57.3% of the voting share), Prosus (25.7% and 12.3%), Alibaba (9.5% and 4.5%), Tencent (7% and 3.3%). Sogaz and Gazprom Media Holding hold 45% each in MF Technologies, while Rostec owns10%.