The latest round of U.S. sanctions target the CEO of Russia’s energy giant Rosneft, but don’t seem to be phasing Russia as expected.
President Obama announced the new set of sanctions on Monday, which build upon pervious ones and expand the list of individuals hit with penalties.
{mosads}Igor Sechin, CEO of Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil company, is one of the seven individuals sanctioned by the U.S. Sechin made the cut in the hopes that ramifications would be felt throughout the the state-owned Rosneft, which is also one of the world’s largest publicly-traded oil firms.
But Sechin isn’t troubled over the being sanctioned for his friend Russian President Vldimir Putin’s actions toward Ukraine, calling it “an appreciate of our efficiency,” according to Reuters.
“So he cannot fly to drink with U.S. energy executives,” one senior Russian oil trader said after Rosneft shares lost 1.7 percent, Reuters reports. “But otherwise business will continue.”
The list also included Sergei Chemezov, who sits on Rosneft’s board of directors and out of the 17 Russian entities hit, roughy five were energy companies.
Transoil, which specializes in transporting oil and oil products made the list, along with Stroygazmontazh, a gas pipeline construction company. The other three companies targeted handled coal exports, electricity construction, and oil, gas and petrochemical projects.
White House officials said further sanctions on Russia’s energy sector remain a possibility if Putin continues to encourage military action in Ukraine.
“We have at our disposal additional, even more powerful sanctions, including the ability for the Secretary of the Treasury to identify for sanctions certain sectors of the Russian economy, such as…energy,” a senior Obama administration official told reporters on Monday.