Gazprom members, such as Chernomyrdin and the Gazprom Chief Executive Officer, Rem Viakhirev, engaged in asset-stripping. Gazprom assets were shared amongst their relatives. Itera, a gas trading company also received Gazprom assets. In March 1998, for reasons unrelated to his activities at Gazprom, Chernomyrdin was fired by Yeltsin. On 30 June 1998, Chernomyrdin was made Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom. When, in June 2000, Vladimir Putin became the President of Russia, he acted to gain control over Russia's oligarchs, and increase the Government of Russia's control in important companies through a program of national champions. Putin fired Chernomyrdin
Sibir Energy Sibir Energy Sibir Energy is a London-based Russian public limited company, whose primary line of business is petroleum and natural gas exploration in Siberia. Its shares were traded on the Alternative Investment Market, part of the London Stock Exchange. As of 2011, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gazprom Neft. Sibir was founded in 1996, and since then it had pursued an integrated model for its business operations by retaining a focus on retail as well as its core exploration, extraction and refinery activities. On 21 August 2009, Gazprom Neft made a bid to take over all shares in