http://www.funet.fi/pub/culture/russian/voices/realaudio/international.ra Kremlin Tightens Grip on Gazprom By Anna Raff Staff Writer The government grabbed control of Gazprom at a annual shareholders meeting Friday by securing a majority on the board of directors, a move that sets the stage for rapid and long-awaited reforms at the unwieldy gas giant. Government officials won six out of the 11 seats on Gazprom's board. Three seats went to company management, while Burkhard Bergmann, vice president of Germany's Ruhrgas, kept his seat, as did Boris Fyodorov, the outspoken representative of minority shareholders. The meeting also voted to effectively hand the government the power to fire the Gazprom chief executive, amending company bylaws to require only a simple board majority to force the CEO's departure. A unanimous board vote was previously required. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2001/07/02/001.html Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com