Fugitive Russian businessman Mikhail Gutseriyev, the former head of mid-sized oil firm RussNeft, has been reelected to the company's board of directors.
Key facts about Gutseriyev:
* Gutseriyev, 51, is a Russian entrepreneur and a pioneer in private banking in the Soviet Union who started one of the country's first cooperative banks during perestroika in the late 1980s. He was also a deputy speaker in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, in the mid-1990s.
* In 1994, Gutseriyev was appointed head of Russia's first economic aid zone in the North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.
* In 2000, Gutseriyev was appointed head of the Russian-Belarusian oil firm Slavneft and in 2002 founded RussNeft oil and gas company.
* In July 2007, Gutseriyev resigned as RussNeft president and withdrew from all his business projects, citing pressure from the Russian government. He was for a time on a police wanted list after he failed to appear for questioning on tax charges. He is still accused of illegal business practices.
* Gutseriyev, who lived for many years in Chechnya and enjoys respect in the North Caucasus, was involved by the federal government in negotiations with terrorists during the Beslan school siege in 2004, in which 336 people, including 186 children were killed.
* He is seen as a figure that could help the incumbent president of Ingushetia to fight militants and bring peace and order to the republic.
MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti)
