A former employee of U.K. oil major BP PLC's (BP) Russian joint venture has been convicted for attempting to steal "commercial secrets" from gas giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS), Russian authorities said Thursday.
In March last year, Ilya Zaslavsky, an advisor on regulatory affairs at TNK-BP Ltd., and his brother Alexander, an independent energy consultant who headed the British Council's Alumni Club, were charged with industrial espionage by the Federal Security Service, or FSB.
The brothers, who have both Russian and U.S citizenship, were given one-year suspended sentences by a Moscow court, a FSB spokesman said.
The two brothers were arrested during a month-long shareholder conflict at TNK-BP - owned on a parity basis between BP and a group of Russian business tycoons - over management and control of the company. The dispute was resolved in September that year.
TNK-BP is Russia's third largest oil producer.