MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. CEO of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft Igor Sechin and leader of Russia’s Chechen republic Ramzan Kadyrov said in a joint statement they don’t rule out filing lawsuits against Financial Times over publications about a possible "Chechen trace" in investigations of explosions in St. Petersburg.

"The statements about the "Chechen trail", someone allegedly tries to draw attention to during the investigation of terrorist acts in St. Petersburg, are at least incitement of ethnic hatred, which is a criminally punishable act. What strikes us here is that one of the world's leading business publications, FT, is servicing the provocations of the criminals from the so-called "opposition", who are trying to project their well-known criminal experience on the relationship between the republic and the largest Russian corporation," the statement said.

Sechin and Kadyrov also said that "in connection with the Financial Times publication containing lies about the relationship between the company Rosneft and the leadership of the Chechen Republic, they have to clarify the situation. Especially since those speculations concern the sensitive aspects of personal relations between Igor Sechin and Ramzan Kadyrov and offend the memory of Ahmad-Khadji Kadyrov (father of Ramzan Kadyrov and former leader of the republic - TASS), Igor Sechin personally knew since 1999," the statement said.

Earlier, Financial Times wrote about the conflict between Sechin and Kadyrov, that emerged when the two discussed the sale of the Chechen assets of Rosneft to local authorities. The British newspaper also hinted at a "Chechen trace" in the terrorist attack that took place in St. Petersburg metro on April 3.