Chris Finlayson representing Shell and Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom’s Vice Chairman
By John Donovan
Royal Dutch Shell executive Chris Finlayson held a leadership position in Shell’s Sakhalin II project in Russia from September 2005 to September 2009.
The venture was described as “the Mother of all Projects” by the Financial Times.
When Finlayson joined the Sakhalin II project, Shell was the controlling stakeholder in the venture.
By the time he departed, Shell had lost its controlling stake and had become a junior partner in humiliating circumstances.
The Putin government found out that Shell had hidden information from them in a high level cover-up. As a Russian government minister, Oleg Mitvol, confirmed to the news media at the time, and more recently in a GERMAN TV documentary segment broadcast across Europe, I supplied that crucial insider information to him. I did so before the real nature of Putin had become apparent.