Friday 15 August 2014

‘Rosneft asks Putin for £25bn loan’

Russian energy giant Rosneft is said to have asked the Russian Government for a loan of £24.9 billion this week.

Government sources told Russian paper Vedomosti the business’s Chairman Igor Sechin has asked for the cash to cope with Western sanctions, reported Reuters.

In July, the United States put sanctions on several prominent Russian energy firms and banks including Rosneft, closing off US funding to them. Mr Sechin himself is also currently a target of US sanctions.

The action was meant to pressure Russia into pushing pro-Russian separatists to end conflict in eastern Ukraine.