MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. The Board of Directors of Russian oil producer Bashneft agreed upon terms of the settlement with Sistema and Sistema-Invest. The settlement was signed by all participants in litigation and will be sent for approval to the Arbitration Court of Bashkortostan, Rosneft said on Friday.

"According to terms of the settlement, respondents undertake to reimburse Bashneft for damages inflicted to it in the amount of 100 bln rubles ($1.7 bln)," Rosneft said.

Respondents are raising funds to compensate damages with assistance of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Sberbank. Final settlements should be completed at the latest of March 30, 2018. The parties agreed that they undertake to renounce mutual claims after the mentioned amount is paid in full.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held the meeting with business leaders the day before. According to Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, after the meeting Putin proposed leaving some time open for a conversation between chief executives of Rosneft and Sistema Igor Sechin and Vladimir Evtushenkov.

Peskov commented on information from a number of media outlets, referring to sources that said that at the end of the meeting, Putin suggested that participants leave, so that Sechin and Evtushenkov could have an opportunity to discuss the tension that had developed between the companies. At the same time, the press secretary declined to comment on whether the dialogue between the two top managers actually took place.

Earlier Bashkortostan Arbitration Court ordered to recover 136.3 bln rubles ($2.3 bln) from Sistema in favor of Bashneft.

Rosneft oil company has decided to reduce the amount of its claims to Sistema Holding and Sistema-Invest from 136.3 billion rubles ($2.3 bln) to 100 billion rubles ($1.7 bln) after it was informed that the full recovery may lead to bankruptcy of the corporation, Rosneft's spokesman Mikhail Leontiev told TASS.

"The information we obtained about the state of Sistema corporation and its enterprises implies that there are risks that in order to fully pay the amount of damage set by the court bankruptcy will be required. This may take 3-5 years, it will take time. In addition, it will require us to take various costs, which are comparable with the discount that was reached as part of the the settlement agreement, "Leontiev said. 

Sberbank may extend loan to Sistema

A source on the financial market told TASS Sberbank intends to extend a loan to Sistema for the payment under the settlement with Rosneft and Bashneft. 

"The loan is meant," the source said, refusing to indicate the exact amount.