(Source: http://www.newsinfo.ru)

The USA sanctions against “Rosneft” may influence the plans for its privatization.

This was reported by the Russian Minister of Economic Development Aleksei Ulyukayev in an interview with journalists, when participating in the meeting of G20 at the level of Trade Ministers held in Sydney.

“The USA sanctions imposed against “Rosneft” can certainly influence the process of its privatization” - Ulyukayev noted. “There are chances to privatize “Rosneft” as scheduled, but we cannot exclude the possibility of its delay. We fully understand that we are ready to carry out privatization in case the price is not worse than the primary offering price. The price was not worse just a while ago, but if something changes and we are not satisfied with the prices, we will not privatize the company.”

As it was previously reported by Itar-Tass, the privatization of 19.5% of “Rosneft” is scheduled for 2015. According to the Finance Minister of the RF Anton Siluanov, the sum from the privatization of “Rosneft” in the amount of 423 billion roubles is included into the budget. “Of course, we will sell it at the market value, which is a bit higher than it was assumed before”- the Minister noted. According to him, the proceeds from the sale of shares of “Rosneft” will go to “Rosneftegas”, and the proceeds from “Rosneftegas” will go to the budget and for other purposes, which will be coordinated by the Russian Federation government.

The issue of sanctions will be raised in the WTO

Ulyukayev also said that Russia intends to raise the issue of the USA sanctions imposed against it in the World Trade Organization. “We will certainly raise this issue (the USA sanctions) in the WTO, within the General Council in the framework of the WTO, and we’ll probably do it through the procedures of dispute resolution standards” - the Russian Minister said answering the question of the Itar-Tass reporters. “So far we refrained from such steps hoping that our partners will take a more balanced position. Unfortunately, our American colleagues did not express such intentions, and we had nothing else to do.”

Ulyukayev reported that he was not ready to discuss how serious the consequences of the USA  sanctions on the Russian economy could be. “It is necessary to carefully analyze it”- he explained. “Maybe the adverse effect will be not so big, but it is important that our American partners push the boundaries, and it cannot remain unnoticed. In these conditions it is important to generate a high-quality environment for investors, so that they could work for the Russian economy even in the sanctions regime.”