MOSCOW, April 9. /TASS/. The Russian government is going to support companies that have fallen under the US sanctions. The issue has already been discussed, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told reporters on Monday.
"We constantly support these companies. We are very attentive to our leading companies, they haave many thousands of employees, providing very important jobs for our country. In the current situation, if their position worsens, of course, we will provide support and in advance have already discussed some things," he said.
Answering the question about whether the government would meet with businessmen who were included in the new US sanctions list, Dvorkovich noted that he holds such meetings with businessmen on an ongoing basis.
"I do not know about organizing a general meeting, but I practically meet with them every week, so we are constantly discussing this topic," he said. "We will support them in any case," Dvorkovich added.
On April 6, the US announced imposing new sanctions against a number of Russian officials, businessmen and companies. The list includes Oleg Diripaska, as well as Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, VTB CEO Andrey Kostin, owner of Renova Viktor Vekselberg, President of Surgutneftegaz Vladimir Bogdanov, Member of Sibur Board of Directors Kirill Shamalov, businessmen Igor Rotenberg and Suleiman Kerimov.
The list includes several companies related to Oleg Diripaska - agroholding Kuban, Evrosibenergo, Rusal, Russian Machines Holding, GAZ Group, B-Finance investment company, Basic Element holdings and En+.