White House Man Rejects Putin’s Offer of Oil Firm Job

One of George Bush’s closest friends and former cabinet members has publicly rejected an offer made by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for him to head one of Russia’s largest state oil companies.

Donald Evans, the former US commerce secretary and member of the White House prayer group to whom Mr Bush is said to talk almost daily, rejected the chairmanship of the state oil firm Rosneft late on Monday. In what many see an embarrassment for the Kremlin leader weeks before Russia accepts the G8 presidency, Mr Evans told journalists in Washington that Mr Putin had offered him a senior role at the firm during a visit to Moscow.
The Guardian