Stan Polovets, chief executive of Alfa-Access-Renova, told reporters BP believed it could "work with the Russian government . . . on a scenario where the Russian shareholders would be compelled to sell" their stake to a state-run Russian company such as OAO Gazprom, the natural-gas giant. "This was a strategic mistake," he said.
BP, he said, would be "more comfortable with having a state company as a partner" to protect its interests than the AAR consortium. Meanwhile, teaming up with Gazprom in TNK-BP would advance BP's plans to form an international alliance with the Russian gas company, he added. A BP spokesman denied the allegations. "We can't tell the [Russian] government what to do," he said.
The accusations mark the latest phase of an increasingly acrimonious dispute between the British oil major and the group of Russian billionaires who co-own TNK-BP -- Mikhail Fridman and German Khan of Alfa Group, Viktor Vekselberg of Renova, and Len Blavatnik of Access Industries.
TNK-BP has experienced raids by the Russian security services, has had one employee detained in an industrial-espionage probe and has struggled to obtain visas for some foreign workers.
BP says the campaign of harassment has been orchestrated by its Russian partners, whom it has accused of trying to seize control of the company. It says that would allow AAR to extract the maximum value from their stake in TNK-BP as it prepares to sell it to Gazprom or another state energy company.
AAR denies being behind the official pressure, and says it is engaged in a straightforward dispute with BP over management strategy. It has demanded the resignation of TNK-BP's chief executive, Robert Dudley, claiming he is running the company in the interests of BP alone.
The dispute has hurt BP, which made a bigger bet on Russia than has any of its Western rivals. TNK-BP accounts for nearly a quarter of BP's global output and 19% of its reserves.
AAR also said it is withdrawing its three candidates to the board of directors of TNK-BP's core unit, TNK-BP Holding, which holds its annual shareholders' meeting Thursday. It stressed its representatives would still attend the meeting. BP said the board would be able to approve dividend payments to minority shareholders. Mr Polovets said the corporate dispute so far hasn't had an "adverse impact" on TNK-BP's operations.
A person close to BP said the TNK-BP holding board is largely a rubber-stamp body to monitor corporate governance and has no operational control. However, BP fears AAR might seek to take over the board, which would give it effective control over TNK-BP in Russia.