MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Friday that Russian oil major Lukoil’s international interests should be respected after Swiss commodity trader Gunvor said it had withdrawn its proposal to buy Lukoil’s foreign assets.
Gunvor’s move came after the U.S. Treasury called it Russia’s “puppet” and signalled Washington opposed the deal.
Asked about the development, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was commercial matter and related to what he called illegal U.S. sanctions on Moscow, but that it was important that Lukoil’s interests were protected.
“We believe that all legitimate interests of a major international company, including a Russian one, like Lukoil, in terms of international trade and economic relations, must be respected,” said Peskov.
Lukoil was forced to sell its foreign assets after the U.S. sanctioned it alongside Rosneft, another Russian oil major, last month, part of what Washington said was a push to get Russia to the negotiating table over Ukraine.
Lukoil has operations in countries as diverse as Iraq, Finland and Switzerland, aside from significant assets in post-Soviet countries including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
