MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned that new EU and US sanctions could impact the work of Western energy firms in Russia and denied there were any Kremlin forces in eastern Ukraine.
"If this continues, we will of course have to think about how (foreign companies) work in the Russian Federation, including in key sectors of the Russian economy such as energy," Putin told reporters in televised comments from a regional summit in Minsk.
The United States has warned that it may soon unveil sanctions against the Russian energy and banking sectors should the Kremlin fail to help ease the crisis engulfing its western neighbour.
Putin's comments threaten the operations of some of the world's biggest energy companies in the resource-rich state -- once viewed as a reliable alternative to unstable natural gas and oil producing countries in the Middle East.
Russia's main state oil firm Rosneft has struck a series of energy production deals with companies ranging from the US super-major ExxonMobil to Norway's Statoil and Italy's ENI.
Government-held natural gas giant Gazprom is also working with the Anglo-Dutch energy group Royal Dutch Shell off Russia's Pacific coast.
Washington on Tuesday slapped a travel ban and asset freeze on Rosneft chief Igor Sechin -- one of seven officials named on a new sanctions listed that also included 17 Kremlin-linked companies.
Comments
Comments are closed.