Executive in Russia's biggest oil company seized by masked men in Moscow Thu Sep 12, 2:55 PM ET By ERIC ENGLEMAN, Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW - A top executive in Russia's biggest oil company was seized by masked gunmen on his way to work Thursday morning, the company's press service said.
Lukoil Chief Financial Officer Sergei Kukura, 48, was being driven to work by his driver and bodyguard when his car was stopped at a railroad crossing by masked men carrying Kalashnikov rifles, the press service said.
The abductors allegedly handcuffed Kukura's driver and bodyguard and gave them a "sleep-inducing injection" causing both to lose consciousness, according to Lukoil. Kukura was then taken out of the car and driven away in another vehicle.
The driver and bodyguard regained consciousness several hours later still in the Lukoil company car.
Lukoil said that the vehicle which took Kukura away had the type of license plate normally assigned to Russian Interior Ministry cars. The car, which officials believe was used in the abduction, was later found in the Odintsovo region, west of Moscow, prosecutor Alexander Mitusov told Interfax news agency.
The Russian Interior Ministry confirmed Thursday that Kukura was abducted and an investigation was underway, but refused to provide any further details. Interior Ministry officials told Russian news agencies that they still had no theories for the kidnapping, and were working with Moscow police and the Federal Security Service, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB.
"I have put the case under my personal control," Deputy Interior Ministry Vladimir Vasilyev told Russian television.
Lukoil said that Kukura, who joined the company in 1993, is one of its most senior executives. He had access to "classified information regarded as a state secret," the company's press service said, without elaborating.
Russian business executives have in the past been targeted by criminal groups, but Russian lawmakers expressed surprise Thursday that an official with a company of Lukoil's stature was targeted.
"I would describe this incident as the criminal world's invasion into Russia's big business," lawmaker Oleg Morozov told Interfax.
Lukoil is Russia's biggest oil company, accounting for more than 20 percent of Russia's oil exports. The state owns a 7 1/2 percent stake in the company, which last month became the first Russian company to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange.
(ee/ji/mb)
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