Putin could head Gazprom: report
MOSCOW (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin could become chairman of Gazprom, the world's biggest natural gas producer, after leaving the Kremlin next year, business daily Vedomosti reported on Friday.
The chairmanship is currently held by Dmitry Medvedev, the man picked by Putin to succeed him when his second term expires in 2008. Medvedev, currently a first deputy premier, said this week he will resign from Gazprom if elected president.
Now Putin, who has agreed to be prime minister if Medvedev takes over the Kremlin, is being tipped to fill the Gazprom post, Vedomosti said.
"Officials and experts are trying to forecast who will fill the empty seat. Vladimir Putin is a popular candidate," the newspaper said, quoting an unidentified official close to Medvedev and two unnamed sources linked to Gazprom.
A Kremlin official, also not named, said that Gazprom might first name a "technocrat candidate," before switching to Putin.
Gazprom controls the largest proven gas reserves in the world and supplies about a quarter of total supplies in the European Union. The company has growing geopolitical clout and has been involved in a series of disputes with neighbouring countries over what critics see as an aggressive pricing strategy.
