Moscow
President Vladimir Putin handed Russian citizenship to gas producer Novatek’s veteran finance chief Mark Gyetvay on Monday, a move that could potentially help the U.S. national bypass some sanctions restrictions. U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014 ban U.S. nationals and companies from helping organize long-term funding for some major Russian firms, including Novatek. The sanctions were imposed following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. When the U.S. and the EU imposed sanctions on Russia, executives with foreign passports at companies affected including Novatek – the country’s largest non-state natural gas producer – and state bank VTB handed over responsibility for organizing new debt or equity issuance to colleagues without EU or U.S. passports.— Reuters
