The boss of Russia's second largest private oil company Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, has surprisingly resigned from his post and is also leaving the company's supervisory board.

The group announced this on Thursday without giving reasons for the decision.

Catherine Wagner

Business correspondent for Russia and the CIS based in Moscow.

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Nothing is known about a successor either.

The 71-year-old Alekperov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $10.5 billion and who is considered the tenth richest Russian, was sanctioned by Britain and Australia in mid-April because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

There is speculation in the Russian media that the resignation could have something to do with the punitive measures – possibly in order to avert damage to Lukoil.

Other Russian businessmen have already resigned from management positions because of personal sanctions.

The founder of conglomerate AFK Sistema, Vladimir Yevtushenko, recently resigned from the supervisory board and handed over a block of shares to his son after being fined by the UK.

Alekperov holds 3.12 percent of the Moscow and London Stock Exchange-listed group with voting rights and 5.43 percent without voting rights;

he is therefore not a majority shareholder.

In 1991, Alekperov, who came from an Azerbaijani oil worker family, co-founded the initially state-owned oil company "LangepasUrajKogalymneft", which included some of the best Russian oil deposits.

In 1993, the concern was renamed “Lukoil” and transformed into a joint-stock company, which Alekperov had headed since 1993.

Alekperov was Deputy Oil Minister in the Soviet Union and is considered a loyal companion of President Vladimir Putin.

However, the supervisory board of his company, which accounts for 2 percent of global oil production, expressed its "concern" about the "tragic events" in Ukraine at the beginning of March and called for the "quick possible end to the armed conflict and its solution through negotiations and with diplomatic means".

This had caused outrage in the Kremlin-affiliated media.