Rosneft President Igor Sechin: 'Russia Didn't Initiate the Ukraine Crisis'

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/rosneft-head-igor-sechin-speaks-about-sanctions-and-ukraine-a-989267.html



The Kremlin is reflected in a plaque at the entrance of the state-owned oil company Rosneft, located across the Moscow River.

Rosneft President Igor Sechin: 'Russia Didn't Initiate the Ukraine Crisis'
Interview Conducted by Gerald Traufetter and Matthias Schepp
September 02, 2014 – 06:50 PM

His adversaries refer to him as Darth Vader; his admirers call him the energy czar. His power, though, is uncontested. And Igor Sechin, the director of Rosneft, the world's largest listed oil company, is also reclusive. He only seldom appears before the public and the press.

But when Sechin, 53, enters the room for his interview with SPIEGEL, he is in a cheerful mood, immediately handing over his business card which reads: "No Name, No Company, No Address."

The text on the card is his commentary on the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia and on leading figures in the country, such as Sechin himself. He is no longer permitted to travel to the US and Sechin has become persona non grata in the West due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

A thickset man with a degree in Romance languages, Sechin is considered to be one of the most powerful people behind Russian President Vladimir Putin in the complicated Kremlin power structures. The two have known each other since the 1990s, having worked together at the time in the St. Petersburg city government. As Putin rose to power, he pulled Sechin up with him, first as deputy chief of staff during Putin's first stint as president and then as deputy prime minister.