Foreign Ministry rejects US threats against Russian oil company.
The threats made by the US government against the Russian oil company Rosneft for collaborating with Venezuela have been questioned by the Russian Foreign Ministry. In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry asserted that these threats are nonsensical, as the company has been subject to US sanctions since 2014 and, despite this, continues to operate successfully.
247, with Sputnik - The threats made by the US government against the Russian oil company Rosneft for collaborating with Venezuela have been questioned by the Russian Foreign Ministry. In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry asserted that these threats are nonsensical, as the company has been subject to US sanctions since 2014 and, despite this, continues to operate successfully.
"The threats made by the US Secretary of State against the Rosneft corporation for its cooperation with Venezuela make no sense. It [the company] has been subject to sanctions since 2014, but continues to operate successfully. On the other hand, its former US partners, who were forced by Washington to turn their backs on cooperation, suffered great losses," the statement continues.
The Russian ministry's response came after statements by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who on Tuesday (12) accused Rosneft's management of buying oil from Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA, circumventing sanctions imposed by Washington.
Moscow urged Washington to reconsider its sanctions policy and join joint efforts to resolve the crisis in Venezuela.
Rosneft responded to Pompeo's statements, calling them unfounded, subjective, and biased.
"Rosneft is not involved in politics, but only in commercial activities for the benefit of all its shareholders. Rosneft's activities in Venezuela are related to the implementation of oil production and supply projects and are carried out in accordance with international law and existing market contracts, entered into long before the imposition of unilateral sanctions by the US," the statement said.
Furthermore, Moscow noted that Washington has decided to resort to sanctions again, this time including the Russian bank Eurofinance Mosnarbank on the "blacklist," which had given the Venezuelan government the opportunity to work normally with foreign partners.
Washington added the Russian bank to its sanctions list, reportedly due to its connection with the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.
"We are not going to talk about the effectiveness of the American ban on dollar transactions from this bank — much has already been said about the meager results of the numerous restrictions imposed against Russia [...] Washington is increasingly convincing the international community of the unreliability of the dollar, leading to the abandonment of its use," the Foreign Ministry stressed.
On January 28, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on PDVSA, including freezing $7 billion and blocking all payments made by U.S. companies that purchase Venezuelan oil.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton estimated that Venezuela would lose $11 billion annually in oil export revenue because of these sanctions.