Kremlin: BP to withdraw some workers from Russia on visa glitch
BP pulls workers out of Russia
Supermajor BP will pull 148 employees out of Russia because of alleged visa problems, the Associated Press reported today.
The news agency said the company withdrew the workers after a police raid on a Russian joint venture and the arrest of an employee on industrial espionage charges.
The AP said the joint venture, TNK-BP, is the latest foreign energy company to be squeezed by the Kremlin.
The alleged confrontation is expected to further strain relations between London and Moscow, the AP reported.
The AP quoted TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva as saying the employees were being recalled temporarily due to "a lack of clarity over their current visa status."
She said those being recalled were mainly engineering and technical staff.