This Monday an extraordinary meeting of the board of TNK-BP, the oil joint venture, has been called in Moscow to remove Robert Dudley from his role as chief executive. Viktor Vekselberg, a 12.5 per cent share­holder in TNK-BP and chair of the board compensation committee, has also made a formal request to BP to nominate an independent candidate to the post. This is the latest development in our attempts to reverse years of underperformance at TNK-BP.

We have been left with no choice. Sadly, BP has refused to engage meaningfully with any of the proposals we have made in recent years. Rather than talk to us, it has chosen to misrepresent our objectives and the nature of the dispute between us.