July, 18. The number of directors on the board of state-controlled pipeline monopoly Transneft was slashed to seven from nine, with four of them being independent, the company said. Head of MDM Bank Oleg Vyugin, VP of Russian Academy of Science Alexander Nekipelov, chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley Rair Simonyan and Valery Sorokin were appointed independent directors. Other board members include the company's President Nikolai Tokarev, Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko and Chairman of Evraziyskiy JSC Sergey Yashechkin. The Russian authorities began the first wave of including independent directors on boards of state-controlled companies in June to ease the impact of the state economy.