ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Thursday denied what he called financial market speculation that Alexei Miller would resign as chief executive of state-controlled gas export monopoly Gazprom.
"This is nothing but speculation," Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Miller, like Putin a native of St Petersburg, has headed Gazprom since 2001 and extended his contract last May by five years.
The company, which has a market capitalisation of $136 billion, supplies a quarter of Europe’s gas.
The denial comes after Putin, running to return to the Kremlin at a presidential election in March, ordered state-controlled energy firms to disclose the beneficial owners of offshore companies with which they do business.
The initiative responded to opposition allegations that Russia is run by a corrupt elite.
Opposition demonstrators turned out in force to protest against alleged fraud in a parliamentary election in December.
