Disputes heat up at Russian energy company

MOSCOW, June 16 (UPI) -- A fissure in Russian between energy giant TNK-BP's board and its major shareholder group turned into a public brawl last weekend, sources said.

Russian investors from Alfa Group's AAR, which controls 50 percent of the company, said it would go to court to have TNK-BP Chief Executive Officer Robert Dudley and four BP-nominated directors dismissed for having a board meeting without enough notice, the Moscow Times reported.

The Russian investment group also said it would appeal to the Stockholm Arbitration Court to have an agreement allowing foreign specialists working for BP -- who work at TNK-BP as "secondees" -- annulled.

The dispute is about "mismanagement of the company, not politics or change of ownership," said the investment group's Chief Executive Officer Stan Polovets.

But, BP Chairman Peter Sutherland said the AAR had returned to the "corporate raiding activities" of the 1990s.

He said Russian's leaders were "unable or unwilling to step in."

In response, Mikhail Fridman, chairman of Alfa Group, said Sutherland's remarks were "insulting to the Russian leadership," the Times reported.