Russian gas giant Gazprom plans to cut around 40% of jobs at its headquarters in St Petersburg due to financial difficulties resulting from Moscow’s assault on Ukraine, a spokesperson told AFP on Monday.
The announcement comes two weeks after the end of the lucrative transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, a move made by Kyiv to limit Moscow’s income after three years of conflict.
In a letter dated 23 December and addressed to CEO Alexei Miller, which was published by a local Russian media outlet, Vice-Chairwoman Elena Ilyukhina proposed reducing Gazprom’s administrative staff from “over 4,100” to “2,500 people”.
When asked by AFP, Gazprom communication official Sergey Kupriyanov confirmed the authenticity of the document but declined to add any further comment on internal procedures. The proposed layoffs would not affect employees at production sites.
Gazprom, a cornerstone of the Russian economy led by Alexei Miller, a close associate of Vladimir Putin, has been facing a sharp reduction in the European market since 2022. In 2023, the company reported a net loss of nearly seven billion dollars, marking its first loss in more than twenty years.
The past three years have brought a succession of bad news for the group, which holds a monopoly on Russian gas exports. Following the end of deliveries to Germany after the sabotage of Nord Stream in the Baltic Sea in September 2022, the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine ended on January 1.
According to experts cited by Russian daily Vedomosti, Gazprom will lose approximately €5 billion in annual revenue from its deliveries through Ukraine, which is about 6% of its total revenue.
