Russia's state-owned oil company Rosneft said on Friday that former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and German businessman Matthias Warnig had informed it they could not continue serving on the board of directors.
"We are sympathetic to their decisions, and thank them for their continued support," Rosneft said in the statement.
The European Parliament urged on Thursday that Mr Schroeder be blacklisted if he did not quit the board of Rosneft, in a move also meant to dissuade him from taking a top job at Gazprom.
Mr Schroeder, who was chancellor from 1998 to 2005, has come under intense public criticism for retaining his lucrative board position with Rosneft, which he had held since 2017.
This week Germany closed his taxpayer-funded office amid outrage over his continued involvement in the Russian energy industry and refusal to condemn president Vladimir Putin, whom he counts as a personal friend, over Russia's actions in Ukraine.
The exit of Mr Schroeder and Mr Warnig follows the departure of another five foreign vice-presidents of Rosneft, six sources told Reuters. They left days ahead of fresh EU sanctions over Ukraine that came into effect on May 15th.
