Kadyrov agrees not to claim assets from Rosneft stocks after meeting with Putin and company head

Russian oil giant Rosneft will not sell its stocks in the Chechen Republic or build an oil refinery there, reported newspaper RBK, citing sources claiming that this agreement was reached at an April 19 meeting between head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin.

The media outlet notes that after this meeting, Sechin and Kadyrov both met individually with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sechin and Kadyrov are said to have agreed that Rosneft would, instead, invest in Chechny’a infrastructure, including housing, which would then become municipal property. The volume of investment has not been specified.

RBK’s source noted that Sechin had always been against transferring to the local government full control of Rosneft’s stocks in the republic.

Rosneft, the Kremlin, and Kadyrov’s press office all refused to comment on the outcome of the talks.

Negotiations between Sechin and Kadyrov, as well as their meetings with Putin, took place after the Financial Times reported on a conflict between Rosneft and Chechnya, after which Sechin and Kadyrov jointly threatened the newspaper with a lawsuit.

Earlier, Kadyrov criticized Rosneft in connection with plans to privatize local company Grozneftegaz. The head of the Chechen Republic disapproved of the state giants request for 51 percent of the company’s shares in exchange for 12.5 billion rubles (approximately $223 million) and called the sum inflated.