Peskov pointed to US attempts to undermine the positions of Russian energy companies with sanctions

The United States is trying to undermine the positions of Russian energy companies with the help of sanctions. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on January 13.

On January 10, the United States and the United Kingdom extended sanctions against Russia. The list included Gazprom Neft and its head Alexander Dyukov, Surgutneftegaz, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev, as well as 100 Russian tankers.

According to the Kremlin spokesman, Rosatom state corporation will continue its international activities as it is one of the leaders of the global nuclear market.

"It is clear that the United States will try to continue to try to undermine the positions of our companies in non-competitive ways, but of course we expect that we will be able to counter this," Peskov said at a briefing.

Current U.S. President Joe Biden and his team are seeking to deteriorate bilateral relations between Russia and the United States as much as possible before leaving, leading to the destabilization of international energy markets, he said.

"We will monitor the consequences very closely and, of course, configure the work of our companies to minimize the consequences of these illegal decisions," Peskov concluded.

Last chord: Biden administration imposes sweeping sanctions against Russia's oil sector

However, their future fate will depend on the decisions of US President-elect Donald Trump

Rosatom said that the state corporation perceives the new restrictions as an element of unfair competition. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Izvestia that Biden's new sanctions on the eve of his resignation from the presidency are not going to "leave a trace in history," but "only a legacy."

Back in November 2024, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that Western sanctions will not lead to restrictions on Russia's foreign trade. According to him, all restrictions by Western countries first of all hit them.

Western countries increased sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of the special operation to protect civilians in Donbass, which was announced on February 24, 2022.