RUSAL has consistently supported an approach aimed at enhancing all management functions within Nornickel, including planning, organization, incentivization and operational controls. Recent events in the Arctic demonstrate exactly why such an approach is required for the company. As for the question of operating a centralized or decentralized model of management – neither of these excludes the necessity of a strong control function. As the events of the past two months have revealed, Nornickel clearly struggles with this fundamental concept. We are glad that some of our proposals, both for the model of management and for strengthening of the management team, have been positively received.

When it comes to the dividend policy and the shareholder agreement, we want to emphasize that neither should not be seen as a burden upon the company, instead they simply set out the governing principles and function as the rules of the game. At the same time, we are concerned that the incompetence and inefficient decisions of certain management, or the complete inability to make a decision, is putting the company at serious risk. RUSAL, which has invested 14 bln dollars in Nornickel shares, has always highlighted how important the dividend is as it demonstrates to RUSAL’s own shareholders the value of this investment. We believe that dividends should not be diminished. Instead, they should stay in Russia and be reinvested in the development of the Russian economy, as is done by RUSAL.