BP’s Russian joint venture partners have called an extraordinary meeting aimed at dislodging Robert Dudley as chief executive of TNK-BP.

The AAR consortium, which represents the four Russian oligarchs who own 50 per cent of TNK-BP, said the extraordinary meeting would take place in Moscow on Monday.

A statement from AAR said the meeting of the board of TNK-BP Management, one of TNK-BP’s main subsidiaries, had been requested by Viktor Vekselberg, one of the four main Russian shareholders. It cited “repeated infringements by Mr Dudley of Russian employment, migration and tax laws”.

BP rejected the announcement as a “publicity stunt” and reiterated its support for Mr Dudley, saying it had “full confidence” in his leadership.

It also emerged today that AAR has hired a London PR agency, Hudson Sandler, to spearhead an international charm offensive.

Details of the extraordinary meeting became known after the Russian migration service promised to approve work permits for 49 senior managers at TNK-BP, helping soothe fears that top executives, including Mr Dudley, could be expelled from Moscow this month.

Russia’s Federal Migration Service (FMS) said that applications for the overseas staff at TNK-BP, most of whom are former BP employees, had now been accepted and would be processed within 10 days. “We will speed up the process for those whose visas expire earlier,” said a spokesman. “We are making concessions ... no one will have to leave Russia.”

On Tuesday, Mr Dudley gave warning to staff in an email that he and dozens of other expatriate staff would probably be forced to leave Moscow this month when their visas expire.

However, a spokesman for BP in London played down the Russian visa announcement, pointing out that the situation would remain unclear until the permits had been issued.

“This is a first step and we look forward to those work permits and visas being approved and issued. Unless additional permits are accepted and granted at least half the non-Russian staff, recruited from a number of firms around the world, will be ejected from Russia.”

BP is immersed in an increasingly bitter power struggle for control of TNK-BP with AAR, the investment vehicle controlled by Mr Vekselberg, Len Blavatnik, Mikhail Fridman and German Khan.

They have accused TNK-BP of poor performance and say Mr Dudley is only serving the interests of BP.

In recent weeks, the joint venture has been subjected to an apparent intimidation campaign, including unexplained raids by security agents, tax probes and environmental investigations.

TNK-BP is Russia’s third-largest producer of crude oil and posted a $5.7 billion profit last year.

The billionaires have also threatened legal action against BP, which for its part, has accused AAR of “corporate raiding”.

Gordon Brown is expected to meet with President Medvedev at the G8 summit in Japan on Monday. The two leaders are expected to discuss TNK-BP, among other issues, during their first bilateral talks.

The visa row followed a request to Russian authorities from Mr Khan, who is a TNK-BP executive director as well as major shareholder, that the number of foreign specialists working at TNK-BP be cut to 63.

The move was in direct opposition to a request from Mr Dudley that TNK-BP should seek a quota of 146 expatriate specialists.

Russian authorities this week issued their approval for just 71 foreign staff.

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