LONDON, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - Robert Dudley, the CEO of Russian British oil company TNK-BP, has set up a secret European command center to try to keep control of the company, the U.K.'s Sunday Times reported.

TNK-BP said on Thursday that Dudley would temporarily leave Russia to run the company from abroad. BP blamed a campaign of harassment by Russian shareholders in the country's third largest oil producer.

The BP-appointed U.S. executive, who has been accused by Russian shareholders of acting only in BP's interests, said he was leaving due to the failure of the Russian authorities to renew his visa.

"Dudley has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal his whereabouts, including extensive security measures to ensure his phone calls and e-mails are untraceable. His location is known only to a handful of BP executives and he has been joined by a small, hand-picked support team," The Sunday Times said.

On Friday, the British Foreign Office warned that Dudley's departure from Russia would be "bad news for both the Russian economy and the global energy industry as a whole."