Nursultan Nazarbayev condolences on Total CEO death

Christophe de Margerie ©REUTERS

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has expressed condolences on behalf of the the people of Kazakhstan and on his own behalf to the family and relatives of Christophe de Margerie of French oil company Total, who died in a plane crash on Monday night, Tengrinews reports citing the presidential website.

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev has expressed condolences on behalf of the the people of Kazakhstan and on his own behalf to the family and relatives of Christophe de Margerie of French oil company Total, who died in a plane crash on Monday night, Tengrinews reports citing the presidential website.

The telegram said that Nursultan Nazarbayev learned with great sadness of the death of Christophe de Margerie in the plane crash at Russian Vnukovo aiport in Moscow.

“Christophe de Margerie was a highly professional expert and prominent leader, recognizable figure who made a huge contribution to the strengthening of friendly ties between Kazakhstan and France as well as to development of energy sector of our country,” the Kazakh President said in the telegram.

Head of oil giant along with three crew members died in a plane crash on Monday night in Moscow. The accident occurred at 11:58 p.m. local time when his French-made Dassault Falcon business jet crashed in a collision with a snowplow during take-off from the Vnukovo international airport.

In a visibility of 300 meters and the take off speed the pilot could in no way avoid the collision. Alcohol test confirmed that the driver of the vehicle on the ground was drunk. But inspection of the the airport orders found that the drunk driver violated no orders and did not drive beyond be area designated for him. It remains unclear why the airports traffic control service sent the truck and the airplane to the same runway. A criminal case was opened on Tuesday.

Christophe de Margerie, 63, a strong opponent of sanctions against Russia, was returning to Paris after a meeting with Russian Prime-Minister Dmitry Medvedev at his residence near Moscow following a business meeting in Gorky. At the meeting, the sides discussed investments in Russia amid the unrest in Ukraine and the resulting Western sanctions against Russia that is widely blamed for the stand-off in Ukraine.

Writing by Assel Satubaldina, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina