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Anti-Russian sanctions

Temirgaliyev: sanctions against Crimean oil gas are part of struggle for resources

The Black Sea shelf around Crimea is rich in oil and gas, and many Western companies already looked forward to super profits, he said

© ITAR-TASS/Alexander Rumin

SIMFEROPOL, April 12. /ITAR-TASS/. U.S. sanctions against Crimea's Black Sea oil and gas company Chernomorneftegaz are part of the global struggle for control over energy resources, Crimean First Vice Premier Rustam Temirgaliyev notes on Facebook. He is blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury Department.

The republic's vice-premier notes that U.S. support for "democracy" in Ukraine, as well as in Iraq and Libya "very often was accompanied by contracts of American companies for exclusive extraction of hydrocarbons in the countries."

"The Black Sea shelf around Crimea is rich in oil and gas, and many Western companies already looked forward to super profits. But Crimea has joined Russia. Chernomorneftegaz became Crimean property within Russia, and its revenues from extraction will be used for the peninsula's development, but not come into pockets of Western corporations," Temirgaliyev said.

The U.S. Treasury Department included the Black Sea oil and gas company into its blacklist, the departmental press service said on Friday. According to the department, it meant export control from the United States with possible denial of deals. The blacklisting of the Crimean company was a signal that the U.S. government condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine, a U.S. official noted.

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