Lukoil executive in car crash scandal

The Barkov crash

If Big Oil companies didn't have enough problems in today's world, an executive for Lukoil, Russia's biggest private oil company, is at the centre of a media frenzy in Russia after he was involved in a car crash that killed two women.

Anatoly Barkov, a vice president of Lukoil, was in his chauffeur-driven, armored Mercedes on 25 February when it allegedly veered into oncoming traffic to avoid a jam. The Mercedes collided head on with a small Citroen carrying Olga Alexandrina and her mother-in-law Vera Sidelnikova, killing them both.

The two women were both doctors, Vera Sidelnikova was also a a well-known gynecologist.

Since the accident, there have been stories that the Russian police have blamed the two women for the accident, despite a slew of eyewitnesses, and there are even rumours of an attempted cover-up.

The accident has en-flamed public opinion in Russia who are said to be furious at Moscow's elite being given special dispensation and seemingly allowed to break the law and get away with it, let alone be responsible for two deaths.

Barkov allegedly suffered minor injuries in the accident. It is unclear whether Barkov or his 51-year-old driver was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. The driver was not injured.

Cover-up?

Sergey Kanayev, a spokesperson for the Federation of Car Owners, which aims to protect the rights of Russia's drivers says that the 'official version' of events, that claims Mrs. Alexandrina veered out of her lane, is wrong.

Speaking to Sky News, he said, "In the course of our independent investigation we found four witnesses who say firmly that they saw the Mercedes suddenly swerve out and cause the crash.

"We want to fight the tendency to take the side of the rich and powerful in such crashes. We need to rehabilitate the memory of those who died and were mistakenly blamed."

Protests have been held as a result, with a prominent Russian rapper Ivan Alexeyev, aka Noise MC, even releasing a song portraying Barkov as a malevolent tycoon with no regard for ordinary citizens. The song "Mercedes 666" states that Barkov will burn in hell together with Denis Yevsukov, the Moscow police officer who killed two people in a supermarket shooting rampage last year.

The family of the two victims have also been 'man-handled' by police officers while protesting outside Lukoil's headquarters, in from of at least 20 journalists.

It is a complete PR disaster for the oil company, especially with many protest groups calling for a boycott of Lukoil petrol stations. "The public started to react to this accident when people understood that they had been manipulated," said Sergei Kanayev.

In Moscow, the incident has filled the newspapers and radio stations with many blasting the seemingly corrupt police force, who took two days to pen an investigation. On the Russian blogosphere, the topic spread like wildfire.

The fact that Lukoil spokesman Dmitry Dolgov has said the company will not offer any compensation has only inflamed the situation.

The situation today seemingly hit a critical point, when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the interior minister to look into a recent car crash. What his investigation yields, remains to be seen.

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