A top aide to Ukrainian President Zelensky accuses BP of war profiteering with stakes in Russian oil company

news7f12/03/2022

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A top aide to Ukrainian President Zelensky accuses BP of war profiteering with stakes in Russian oil company

a major [hotlink ignore=true]energy[/hotlink] Companies that have pledged to sell their shares in Russia have yet to do so, and a top Ukrainian official has accused them of pocketing millions of dollars from the war.

British Petroleum is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world announced in February that it would sell its 19.75% stake in Russian energy company Rosneft after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, it had weight.

But nine months later, [hotlink]BP[/hotlink] has not yet reduced its stake, and one of Ukraine’s closest advisers to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is demanding that the company sever ties immediately.

Oleg Useko, Zelensky’s chief economic adviser, wrote a letter—viewed by BBC and the guardian—to BP CEO Bernard Looney, calling on the company to make good on its commitments from the early days of the war, and accusing BP of being complicit in violations of international law and violations of the law. Russia in Ukraine by holding its shares in Rosneft.

“After nine months of Russian invasion, war crimes and civilian infrastructure bombardment, all financed and powered by Russian oil, gas and coal, BP is still the shareholders of Rosneft,” Usenko wrote.

A BP spokesperson said: Luck that difficulties in selling BP’s stake in Rosneft stemmed from complications related to Western sanctions on Russian companies.

Usenko also accused BP of continuing to receive payments from Rosneft as dividends, citing a recent report. analysis of the NGO Global Witness. The analysis argues that, due to the failure to sell its stake in Rosneft, BP “continues to receive dividends to shareholders, known as dividends,” from the Russian company.

based on a payments to shareholders of Rosneft Last month, Global Witness estimated that BP pocketed around £580 million (about $713 million) in the first nine months of 2022.

A BP spokesperson said the company has not received any dividends on Rosneft stock since February and does not expect to receive any in the future, adding that the decision selling shares of Rosneft resulted in a loss of $24 billion.

They added that any payments a Russian company makes to “unfriendly countries” abroad will be strictly controlled by the Russian government.

But Usenko stated in his letter that BP’s inability to sell its shares still leaves them complicit with Rosneft. huge profits this year, which had supported the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

“BP will receive this money into a restricted Russian bank account, a clear indication of the historic mistake your company has made – but BP will receive the dividend anyway.” Usenko wrote.

“No accounting mechanism or statement from BP will change this fact. This is blood money, pure and simple.”

Usenko accused BP of “waiting for the storm to pass, back to business as usual when the war is over.”

A BP spokesperson denied the allegation, saying the company “has absolutely no intention of returning to ‘business as usual’.”

Throughout the war, Russia used energy as a weapon against the West, especially Europe, which was economically dependent on Russia. much of the supply of oil and natural gas. Despite the sanctions, Russia managed to continue selling energy abroad this year, crazy profiteering Oil and gas prices were too high during the first few months of the war.

According to one report, Russia’s fossil fuel exports brought in Russian energy companies 158 billion euros ($166 billion) in the first six months of the war. research of the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. The study found that energy revenues have contributed about 43 billion euros ($45 billion) to Russia’s federal budget since the start of the war, helping to fund the war in Ukraine.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com