The stand-off between BP and its joint venture partners in Russia continued at a meeting of the board of TNK-BP in Cyprus where neither side yielded over the issue of who should control one of Russia's oil producers.

The board meeting took place a day after a series of demands were made by Viktor Vekselberg, one of the four tycoons who jointly control AAR, the consortium that owns half of TNK-BP.

Mr Vekselberg made four demands as a condition to resolving the dispute: the removal of the existing management including Bob Dudley, the BP-nominated chief executive; equal representation on subsidiary company boards between BP and AAR; fewer BP secondees employed within TNK-BP and greater powers for Russian executives with the organisation.

A spokesman for AAR said that the meeting, the first since June 3 when AAR members refused to attend, was cordial and included a discussion of the issues.

Following the June debacle, both sides exchanged numerous insults and one of the AAR shareholders, Mikhail Fridman, accused Peter Sutherland, BP's chairman, of adopting Nazi propaganda methods.

Yesterday's meeting boosted the AAR presence on the board with the appointment of Stan Polovets, the chief executive of AAR, to the board.

The TNK-BP board suffers from a continuing deadlock with equal shareholdings and five directors from each camp. An attempt by AAR to have Mr Dudley sacked as chief executive failed last week.

The confrontation erupted earlier this year with a series of tax and regulatory investigations of the company including alleged visa violations by BP secondees.

The Russian shareholders claim that there is a fundamental disagreement over strategy, with AAR favouring an international expansion of TNK-BP with the aim of creating an international oil company.

BP says this conflicts with the agreed objective when the group was created in 2003 to invest in Russia.

Underlying the row is uncertainty over the Russian Government's perceived desire to secure greater state control over significant oil and gas assets.

Conflicting statements have been issued over the possibility of Gazprom acquiring a stake in the company and the AAR shareholders have insisted their interest is not for sale.

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