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Lavrov lambasts Pompeo’s remarks about Rosneft

Earlier, the US Secretary of State said that Rosneft was buying crude oil from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA "in defiance of US sanctions"

© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. The recent storm of accusations by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo against Russia’s oil producer, Rosneft, are not in line with international law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on Tuesday.

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"Recently, Pompeo accused Rosneft of violating US sanctions against the Venezuelan oil company and demanded that it stop buying oil from this company. Bad habits are contagious, so Guaido (leader of the Venezuelan opposition - TASS) already said that Venezuela should stop selling oil to Cuba. How does this harmonize with international law? In no way whatsoever," the top diplomat stressed.

Earlier, Pompeo said that Rosneft was buying crude oil from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA "in defiance of US sanctions."

In turn, the Russian company stressed that Rosneft is not engaged in politics, and carries out exclusively commercial activities in the interests of all its shareholders.

The oil company vowed to evaluate the consequences of those statements and, if damage was done to the company, it vowed to pursue defending its rights.

Washington imposed sanctions against PDVSA in late January.

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