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Rosneft to file lawsuit against Kommersant daily — company CEO

Kommersant reported earlier that Rosneft allegedly prepared a set of measures aimed at support of the national economy amid Western sanctions

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin ITAR-TASS/Ruslan Shamukov

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin

© ITAR-TASS/Ruslan Shamukov

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Kremlin rejects reports on Rosneft’s alleged proposals on new retaliatory sanctions

MOSCOW, October 29. /TASS/. Russian oil major Rosneft will file a lawsuit against Kommersant business daily for its report on the company’s allegedly prepared proposals on new retaliatory sanctions against the West, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said on Wednesday.

Kommersant reported earlier that Rosneft allegedly prepared a set of measures aimed at support of the national economy amid Western sanctions.

According to the daily, the proposed measures ranged between restrictions on nuclear fuel burials and blunt expropriation of foreign equipment. The daily also said that the relevant document was sent to President Vladimir Putin for consideration.

“Rosneft is a commercial company, which is not authorized of making political decisions,” Sechin told journalists. “We neither send to anyone any documents nor prepared any counter-measures as we are not dealing with it.”

“Our task is to effectively wage our work activities and protect interests of our shareholders,” he said. “In this regard we will file a lawsuit against Kommersant, which was the source of this information.”

“We believe that such unverified information instigates counter sanction measures. We stated earlier that we are against shifting political decisions to a corporate level. I am sure that we will prove our rightness in court. On the whole, we ask journalists to give verified information instead of using rumors,” Sechin said.

Reactions on the report of alleged statement

The Kremlin also rejected Kommersant’s report earlier in the day saying it was not true.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “This absolutely does not correspond to reality,” adding that “This is not true that there are some proposals from Rosneft.”

Rosneft said in its official statement earlier on Wednesday that it was likely to sue the daily for publishing false information.

“Publications of such ‘proposals’ cause damage not to the company and its shareholders but the whole Russian economy as well,” the company said in its statement.

Sechin lawsuits against Russian media

This is not the first time Sechin sues Russian media. In August he won a defamation lawsuit against Russian daily Vedomosti. The Ostankinsky Court of Moscow agreed with the lawsuit that the article by Vedomosti’s journalist Kiril Kharatyan, which was published in the daily in mid-June, contained material discrediting Sechin’s reputation and dignity.

In July Sechin successfully sued and won defamation cases against Forbes Russia magazine and Komsomolskaya Pravda daily newspaper. In both cases the court ordered the publishers to retract their articles.

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