Annual meeting of Norilsk Nickel Mining and Metallurgical Company shareholders turned into a scandal. The main topic for discussion was the election of board members. A total of 13 seats were to be filled by choosing out of 25 candidates from the major shareholders including Interros, Rusal, Trafigura Beheer, and Metalloinvest, and those from the management.

According to The Russian Mafia web-site (rumafia.com), for the most part the meeting went peacefully. But the announcement of election results was a shock. First, shareholders voted against the remuneration to independent board members that amounted to 62.5 thousand dollars per quarter wit additional 31.3 thousand dollars if the board member chairs a committee. In particular, Interros was among those who voted against such payments.

But the main surprise was the election of Interros deputy CEO, Andrey Bugrov, as chairman of Norilsk Nickel board of directors. After the extraordinary meeting of the board in March, it was headed by Aleksander Voloshin, which was insisted on by Rusal. But now only two board members voted for him.

Rusal spoke strongly against it. The company insists that a "Russian independent manager" should be the chairman and it may offer new elections to Norilsk Nickel board of directors. In addition, Rusal is against the decision that the independent board members will be working for Norilsk Nickel for free.