ST. PETERSBURG, June 6. /TASS/. The Russian state has legal instruments for retaining the required control over the strategic sectors of the country’s economy, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when commenting on the statement made by Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft Igor Sechin that the US virtually managed to get control over several sectors of the Russian metallurgy through sanctions against Rusal.
"Let us not draw into discussions with representatives of the Russian business who naturally are making many statements on relevant issues during those several days (of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum - TASS). It would not be correct to dispute each of those statements," he said.
Peskov emphasized though that "there is clear legislation, norms and regulations in Russia ensuring the required control of the state in strategic sectors of the economy."
Earlier on Thursday Sechin said that as a result of several iterations of sanctions the US administration virtually received control over Rusal, and consequently over the aluminum industry of the Russian Federation, and taking into account the large stake in Norilsk Nickel - not only over aluminum, but also over nickel, copper, platinum and palladium and other segments of the Russian industry related to mining and production of non-ferrous and precious metals.
The US Treasury Department slapped sanctions against a number of Russian officials, businessmen and companies on April 6, 2018. Among them were several enterprises belonging to Oleg Deripaska, including Rusal, Basic Element, En+, Russian Machines, EuroSibEnergo and GAZ Group.
In January 2019, sanctions against Rusal, En + and EuroSibEnergo were lifted, though Deripaska’s share in En+, for example, went down from 70% to 44.95%. In Rusal, his direct ownership only equaled to 0.01%, for which he is not entitled to receive dividends. Meanwhile, the businessman himself remained in the sanctions list.