Chairman of Gazprom’s board of directors sold off his stake in the company ahead of the market collapse.

      According to an official statement, Viktor Zubkov owned 0. 00098739 percent of shares (or 233,700 ordinary shares).

      The sale that took place on February 11 is reported to have brought him 34.5 million roubles.

      The stock market collapsed in early March, with Gazprom shares sliding by 14 percent on March 3.

      Zubkov bought a stake in the summer of 2013 for a price that remained undisclosed. In 2012, Zubkov got 22.63 million roubles in remuneration for his work at Gazprom.

      The Moscow stock exchange and the foreign exchange has been going through extreme volatility as tensions between Russia and the West continue to mount over the fate of Crimea, an autonomous republic in the south of Ukraine that is holding a secession referendum on Sunday with the future option of joining Russia.

      The MICEX index, one of the main Russian stock market indicators, nosedived to a new low this March, going back to the May 2012 level.

      According to the business daily, at 3.54 pm Moscow time MICEX stood at 1258.12 while RTS, another key indicator, dropped 1.3 percent to 1085.85.

      Among the worst hit are Sberbank (-3.08 percent), Rostelecom (-3,46 percent), FSK UES (-3.31 percent), Inter RAO UES (-6.33 percent).

      The plunge was due to the decision of the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which suspended Russia’s accession process.

      The national currency has hit a new low, with the euro reaching 51 roubles.

      Follow the news on Ukraine at Russia-iC.