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
Gazprom of the Gazprom Neft shares for $13.1 billion. Gazprom's ability to supply natural gas to domestic market and for reexport has relied to a large extent on imports from Central Asia. In 2007, Gazprom imported a total of from Central Asia: from Turkmenistan, from Kazakhstan, and from Uzbekistan. In particular, Gazprom purchased seventy-five percent of Turkmenistan gas exports in order to supply gas to Ukraine. In 2008, Gazprom paid $130/mcm to $180/mcm for gas from Central Asia. In 2015, Gazprom's proved and probable reserves of natural gas were , a 3.8% increase from the 2011 figure which represented 18.4% of