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Gutseriyev's son dies in crash



By Upstream staff 

Photo by Vladimir Afanasiev


The son of former Russneft president Mikhail Gutseriyev, who accused the Kremlin of “bullying” him into selling the company, has been killed in a car crash in Moscow, according to reports.

Chingiskhan Gutseriyev, 21, died on Wednesday and was buried in the family's native region of North Ossetia yesterday in a Muslim ceremony attended by the president of the neighbouring Russian republic of Ingushetia, Reuters reported.

Russneft said he had died of a brain haemorrhage following the crash.

Mikhail Gutseriyev accused the Russian government in July of "unprecedented bullying" after Russneft received back tax demands totalling $800 million.

Mikhail Gutseriyev, whose personal wealth has been estimated at $3 billion, was himself accused of tax evasion and illegal business activities and Russian courts have seized some of his property.

The businessman resigned from the presidency of Russneft on 30 July, blaming state pressure, after an investment vehicle controlled by Kremlin-friendly oligarch Oleg Deripaska filed for permission to buy the company.

He later replaced his statement on Russneft’s website attacking the government with another one saying he was happy to sell to Deripaska.

Russia’s Kommersant business newspaper said the circumstances of the death were mysterious. Reuters quoted the paper as saying Moscow police had no record of a crash involving him, ambulance services received no call-out requests and hospitals had no record of treating him.

A Russneft spokesman and police declined comment on Kommersant's report. Moscow traffic police told Reuters they had no record of a crash involving Chingiskhan Gutseriyev.

He was educated at Britain's elite Harrow School and went to Warwick University before joining the board of directors of some of his father's companies. He was not a director of Russneft but worked at Binbank, also owned by his father.


Friday, 24 August, 2007, 19:29 GMT  | last updated: Monday, 27 August, 2007, 05:04 GMT

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