This Oil Giant Provides 1/5th of Russia’s Tax Revenue, Is Close With China – Putin Goes All Out to Support It
by Atle Staalesen (The Barents Observer)
Vladimir Putin has isolated himself in his near-Moscow residence for almost two months. On Tuesday this week, he made a rare appearance in a real one-to-one meeting with near associate Igor Sechin, leader of state oil company Rosneft.
The two men have been close friends since the 1990s. It was Putin that appointed Sechin, his former deputy prime minister, to the post as oil company leader in 2012. Since then, Rosneft has consolidated its position as the country’s most powerful company and embarked on a series of highly ambitious projects in the Arctic.