REUTERS
The UK has blocked a deal for the acquisition of twelve oil and gas fields in the North Sea by Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and German Khan due to concerns that sanctions might be imposed on them, Reuters has reported.
Fridman and Khan were intending to purchase German oil firm DEA from RWE for EUR 5 billion. Dea operates in several countries, including the UK, where it has stakes in 12 producing oil and gas fields. The transaction had been scheduled to be closed next week.
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey will require from the companies that the acquisitions are made in favor of "an appropriate" third party.
The sanctions against Russia have also affected defense cooperation between the West and the Kremlin, with France refusing to deliver two Mistral-class helicopter carriers to Russia, even though the contract for them was signed long before the sanctions came into effect and as such was not supposed to be affected by the measures.
On January 13, Russia sent a request to the French Defense Ministry to officially explain the reason for France’s non-compliance with the agreement. Earlier, both the prime minister and the president of France reiterated that France would not give the helicopter carriers to Russia until Moscow takes real action to de-escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine "reducing acts of aggression against a sovereign country."