The deal was announced on Wednesday evening by Russian President’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. According to it, Glencore and the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar took a 19.5 per cent stake in Rosneft in a €10.5 billion deal.
As Amos Hochstein put it, the USA would not indispensably block the deal, but they would analyze whether it violated the sanctions imposed upon Russia. The transaction with Rosneft “is not something that we expected”, he added.
The deal also indicates that Russia is in need of money, Amos Hochstein stressed.