RUSSIA - Profile - Alexei Miller.

President Putin in May 2001 appointed Alexei Miller as CEO of Gazprom to replace Rem Vyakhirev who had run Russia's biggest company since 1992. Until then, Miller was deputy minister of energy. Miller, aged 40, is from St Petersburg where he worked as a close Putin colleague in the city administration. However, according to rumours in the first year after his appointment, Miller had not lived up to Putin's expectations. Yet he has remained in his post.

Some observers had said that, by appointing Miller, Putin was reasserting Kremlin control over a former state monopoly that had been "privatized" years under former president Yeltsin. It is said that Miller's main qualification is his loyalty to Putin. From 1991 to 1996 Miller worked under Putin in a department of the St. Petersburg city government devoted to attracting foreign investment. He was successful in that role, with some former colleagues having credited him for attracting companies like Gillette and Coca-Cola to the city.

Miller's experience in the energy business came later. He ran a regional pipeline company for two years before graduating to his ministry job in Moscow. Miller represents a new generation of former bureaucrats going into business, of Putin men having replaced Yeltsin men.