Awwal 07, 1432 / April 11, 2011, SPA -- Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin stepped down as chairman of the board of state-run oil company Rosneft on Monday, weeks after President Medvedev ordered top officials to leave boards of state companies, according to Reuters. The resignation, announced at a Rosneft shareholder meeting, comes less than two weeks after President Dmitry Medvedev ordered Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to "initiate" the removal of his deputies and ministers from the boards of state companies, including the oil tsar Sechin. Medvedev's board purge, depriving most of Putin's key allies of a large share of their leverage, is viewed as part of a wider bid to assert his authority and gain support within the elite to run for a second term as president in the March 2012 election. A Rosneft statement said that the board of directors met specifically to discuss Medvedev's order, which sets a July 1 deadline for all state companies to begin the process of removing deputy prime ministers and ministers from their boards. Sechin decided to leave his post in the company immediately, the statement said. Member of the board Alexander Nekipelov was appointed acting chairman. As chairman of top Russian oil producer Rosneft, Sechin presided over a landmark share swap and Arctic drilling deal with BP Plc. Rosneft holds its annual meeting in the southern city of Krasnodar on June 10. Medvedev and Putin have jointly ruled Russia since Medvedev succeeded Putin as president in 2008, with Putin widely seen as the more powerful of the two men. They have said they will decide together which of them will run for president next year. Medvedev has recently become more assertive in challenging his mentor, but analysts give conflicting views over how serious a perceived split between them is. Under Medvedev's order, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin will also lose his seat on the board of No. 2 Russian bank VTB as well as his seat on the board of diamond miner Alrosa.
