Today the economy, the portrait

Alexei Miller, the very discreet boss of Gazprom

Audio 04:02

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, in September 2014. © AFP PHOTO / KREMLIN POOL / ALEXEY NIKOLSKY

By: Laure Lemeille

3 mins

Today we are interested in the boss of a company that has been talked about a lot this week, Gazprom.

The Russian giant once again reduced its gas supplies to Europe on Wednesday.

At the head of this juggernaut, more than half of whose capital is held by the Russian state, Alexei Miller, a close friend of Vladimir Putin but also a rather discreet man.

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The last outing of the sixty-year-old businessman in front of the cameras of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum was however very noticed last month.

“ 

There is now a paradigm shift.

It is no longer the currency that decides the merchandise that is sold.

It is the goods, the gas and therefore ours that decides.

Our goods.

Our rules.

We are not playing by rules of the game that we did not invent.

 »

A thinly veiled threat to gas supplies to Europe, now being carried out.

This is not the first time that Gazprom has used gas as an economic weapon.

Ukraine has already paid the price four times in the past.

Alexei Miller has been running this energy giant, one of the largest Russian companies with 450,000 employees, since 2001, more than 21 years.

Each year, he is re-elected as head of the group's board of directors.

A rise due to his friendship with Vladimir Putin

After obtaining a doctorate in economics and finance, he met Vladimir Putin at the town hall of Saint Petersburg.

Miller was then 28 years old, Putin ten years older... The two men climbed the rungs of power together.

Poutine Prime Minister, Miller is promoted general manager of an oil transport company, the Baltic Pipeline System.

And when Putin was elected president of the Russian Federation in 1999, Miller was appointed deputy energy minister.

Ten months later, the head of the Kremlin had him elected head of Gazprom.

The objective at the time was to restore order thanks to one of his faithful friends, explains Didier Julienne, expert in natural resources.

“ 

Gazprom in the days of the Soviet Union had a monopoly.

During the Yeltsin era, his position eroded considerably.

Its assets ended up in private hands.

Once Miller came in, he took over a lot of the assets he had taken out of his hands, he developed Gazprom by increasing the company's reserves but also by increasing its marketing footprint by distributing its gas directly to customers, that is Germany.

By innovating, by having new pipelines, it is the south of Europe, and by developing new customers in the east with China.

 In 2021, Gazprom records a profit of 28 billion euros.

Miller therefore scrupulously fulfills his mission.

Kremlin accused of redistributing profits to Vladimir Putin aides

Starting with Alexei Miller himself, this is revealed by the investigation carried out by the team of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the independent media Proekt.

The Russian journalist Roman Badanin took part in the investigation which denounces this system of corruption: “ 

Miller is a really very rich man who obtained his wealth through Gazprom.

He stole the company's assets.

For example, he built luxurious palaces for himself, his family, and all his trusted men.

Putin owns part of his wealth thanks to Alexei Miller.

Alexei Miller is a Putin puppet

 ”.

This oligarch is not on the list of some 1,100 personalities targeted by European sanctions for their role in the war in Ukraine.

Certainly not to hamper Russian gas supplies.

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