OREANDA-NEWS. August 07, 2008. BP CEO Tony Hayword and his Russian JV partner Mikhail Fridman will meet to discuss the conflict surrounding TNK-BP, vice president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Igor Jurgens said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station.

"I heard that the first step has been taken in this direction" – Jurgens pointed out. According to him, two scandals took place in Russia that "changed the community's opinion about us". "I hope that the Mechel affair, after FAS carries out the standard procedure, will be put to rest. The situation is much more difficult at TNK-BP. Shareholders of this company should make peace. The fact that administrative leverage has changed is indisputable.

Simply, assurances should be given that this leverage will no longer be used" – Jurgens thinks. According to him, right now foreign investors will be calmed if Hayword and Fridman can find a positive solution to the controversial issues.

Jurgens also voiced an assumption that media magnate Rupert Murdock's criticism about the investment climate in Russia to a large extent concerns the protracted feuding around TNK-BP and, to a lesser extent, the Mechel affair.