The United States takes action over the Ukraine crisis by imposing sanctions on seven individuals with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, including the head of energy company Rosneft.
Igor Sechin, who was included on the list posted on the US Treasury Department’s website, is a powerful ally of President Vladimir Putin and is the most senior energy executive to be targeted by US sanctions so far.
The statement by the White House press secretary (about the sanctions) prompts disgust – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov
The sanctions did not name state-controlled Rosneft itself but shares in the company fell after the announcement. At 2.55pm, its shares were down 1.9 per cent on the Moscow stock exchange, compared with a 0.9 per cent rise in the Micex index.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov expressed disgust on Monday at the US announcement of its latest sanctions, the Interfax news agency reported.
“The statement by the White House press secretary (about the sanctions) prompts disgust,” Mr Ryabkov was quoted as saying. He said it “demonstrates a complete lack of understanding among our colleagues in Washington about what is happening in Ukraine”.
Shares in British oil major BP traded down 1.5 per cent following the US government’s decision. BP holds a 19.75 percent stake in Rosneft. Rosneft jumped to the top of the global production league last year with its $55bn acquisition of rival TNK-BP.
Despite the sanctions BP said it intended to remain a long-term investor in the oil company.
A BP spokesman said: “We are committed to our investment in Rosneft, and we intend to remain a successful, long-term investor in Russia.”
He added the company is now considering what the US sanctions announcement means for BP’s business. The sanctions affect 17 Russian companies.
European leaders were giving more consideration to broad sanctions against sectors of the Russian economy after pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine held monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a US official said.
“We have noticed a distinct uptick in the last three days from major European capitals in continuing to look very hard at sectoral (sanctions) in response to the egregious treatment of the … monitors in Slaviansk,” a US official told reporters.
The OSCE had sent unarmed monitors to try to encourage compliance with a peace deal. The rebels seized them and have been holding them at a fortified redoubt in the town of Slaviansk.
European Union governments also reached a preliminary agreement on Monday to impose asset freezes and visa bans on 15 more people as part of expanded sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, diplomats said.
The names of those to be added to the list will not be made public until they are published in the EU’s Official Journal on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the pro-Russian mayor of Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, was fighting for his life on Monday after being shot in the back while riding
his bicycle, the latest violence in the country’s east.
Gennady Kernes, 54, was was shot, probably by someone hidden in nearby woods, said Iryna Kushchenko, spokeswoman for the local government.
His bodyguards were following in a car but were not close enough to intervene, she said. The Interior Ministry said he had been taken to the city’s hospital for emergency treatment.
“Doctors assess his condition as serious,” the ministry said in a statement.
Mr Kernes, who worked his way up the ranks of local government, was accused by Ukraine’s new pro-western leaders two months ago of promoting separatism by demanding independence when pro-Russian protesters took control of administrative buildings.