Rosneft appears to have many similarites to another president -- the

country's leader Vladimir Putin. In the last three years, both men have

often said similar things and pushed forward the same ideas. They even

share the same sporting interests.

Bogdanchikov, aged 46, was born in the Orenburg region of Russia, but made his career in the far eastern island of Sakhalin, where he began working as a well workover operator in 1981 withlocal oil producing unit Okhaneftegazdobycha.

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