Russia’s oil major Rosneft will keep on protecting the interests of its shareholders, particularly from the impact of sanctions, its representative told journalists after the European Court of Justice dismissed the company’s motion to repeal the EU’s sanctions on Thursday.

"Even though the company’s convincing arguments on the illegitimacy of the sanctions in the European Court were virtually ignored, Rosneft will carry on protecting the interests of its shareholders unwaveringly, especially from the impact of the unlawful sanctions, using all available legal instruments," he pledged.

The European Court of Justice’s denial of Rosneft’s appeal to remove the EU sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine is unlawful and politically motivated, the company’s representative said.

"As part of today’s decision, the court was obliged to provide its own assessment of the case’s facts and the arguments by Rosneft, and deliver an independent decision, which has not been done," he said. "Both decisions (Thursday’s and the ruling of the Court of Chancery on the request of the British court in March 2017 - TASS) are unlawful and politically motivated," Rosneft’s representative stressed.

"The EU court system has failed the ‘independence’ test. In fact, the decision dated March 28, 2017, and the current ruling prove that the supremacy of politics appears to replace the rule of the law in Europe," he emphasized.

Rosneft’s fight against EU sanctions
The European Union slapped Russia with sectoral sanctions in July 2014 over Crimea’s reunification and the developments in Eastern Ukraine. These sanctions impacted Russia’s defense, energy and financial entities. In particular, these sanctions were imposed on state-run banks (Sberbank, VTB) and on oil and gas majors (Rosneft, Gazprom Neft, Transneft).

Rosneft is currently fighting the sanctions levied in 2014 against the Russian oil sector, which limit the supplies of goods and services to be used in Arctic, deep-water and shale exploration and in oil production in Russia. In addition, restrictions were placed on securities and lending, which limit financing and stock trades for some Russian companies, including Rosneft.