A former Kremlin chief of staff was elected Friday to chair the board of mining giant Norilsk Nickel as the state appeared to tighten its grip on the strategic company.
Alexander Voloshin, who was chosen unanimously at an extraordinary board meeting at a Moscow hotel, denied being a de facto Kremlin envoy.
"There are no representatives of the state on the board," Voloshin said after his appointment, but added that "the successful development of Norilsk Nickel will benefit my dear country."
Voloshin brings to the post a wealth of government experience and connections. He served as former President Boris Yeltsin's chief of staff, a job he retained for several years under Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin. One of his deputies under Putin was Dmitry Medvedev, the current president.
After leaving the presidential administration, Voloshin chaired the board at the state-run electricity giant Unified Energy Systems.
His election is part of a compromise to settle a feud between Norilsk Nickel's two main shareholders, Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska.
Potanin, who owns 30 percent of Norilsk, and Deripaska, the owner of aluminum giant UC Rusal, surprised the market last month when they brought an end to a bitter seven-month dispute over strategy and control, which had hurt the company's share value and contributed to a management crisis.
The two metals tycoons agreed that the Norilsk board would be headed by an independent chairman, replacing Potanin, with both billionaires agreeing not to stand for election.
Potanin's Interros investment vehicle and Deripaska's Rusal each received four seats on the board. The other five seats went to independents.
The global financial crisis, which has hit Russian stocks particularly hard, forced the shareholders to set aside their differences, Potanin said. Norilsk's shares have plummeted more than 65 percent since the beginning of the year, and investors have criticized the company for failing to overcome the management crisis.
Norilsk general director Vladimir Strzhalkovsky warned on Friday that things could get worse.
"A further decline in metal prices will take a great toll on the company's performance," he said.
Voloshin had been expected to compete for the post against Sergei Chemezov, the director of the state holding Russian Technologies, but Chemezov pulled out of the running earlier Friday.
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