BP staff to get Russian permits

Russian shareholders have called for Robert Dudley to be removed

Russia's migration service has confirmed that it will issue work permits to executives working for BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP.

BP had expressed concerns that senior staff could be forced to leave the country after half of their requests were turned down this week.

Relations between the two sides of TNK-BP have recently deteriorated.

BP has accused certain Russian shareholders of trying to gain control of the business.

Meanwhile a group of major Russian shareholders have called for TNK-BP's British chief executive Robert Dudley to be removed from his post.

'Concessions'

Russia's migration service said it had approved permits for 49 foreign employees of TNK-BP.

Most would be cleared within 10 days, a spokesperson said, but chief financial officer James Owen, whose visa expires at the end of the month, will get his as early as Thursday.

"We are making concessions," Konstantin Poltoranin, a spokesperson for the migration service said.

"No-one will have to leave Russia," he said.

A spokesperson for TNK-BP said: "We hope that, following the clearance of a small group of top foreign managers, similar steps will follow concerning the remaining employees of the company."