Berlin Seeks U.S. Sanctions Exemption for German Rosneft Unit
The German government is pressing Washington to exempt Rosneft Deutschland, the German subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned oil giant, from newly imposed U.S. sanctions, amid warnings that restrictions could disrupt the country’s fuel supply chai.
The Gaze reports this, referring to Reuters.
Although the business remains legally owned by Moscow, it has been under German state trusteeship since 2022, when Berlin took control of the company’s assets following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Rosneft’s German unit holds stakes in key refineries, including Schwedt, MiRo, and Bayernoil, and plays a vital role in supplying fuel to gas stations and several airports across Europe’s largest economy.
A spokesperson for Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action told Reuters that U.S. sanctions should not apply to Rosneft Deutschland, arguing that it is structurally and operationally separated from its Russian parent company and operates fully under German government oversight.
The request follows a similar development in the United Kingdom, which last week sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, but later issued special licenses permitting continued cooperation with two German subsidiaries of Rosneft under state control reportedly after lobbying from Berlin.
Analysts note that Washington’s sanctions regime wields global influence due to the U.S. dollar’s central role in international finance. Banks engaging with sanctioned entities risk being cut off from dollar transactions that can effectively isolate them from the global financial system.
For now, Berlin has avoided fully nationalizing Rosneft’s German business, opting instead to maintain de facto control through a trustee company, while legal ownership remains with Russia.
As The Gaze reported earlier, the U.S. imposed a new round of major sanctions targeting Russia’s energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil, in response to Moscow’s continued reluctance to engage seriously in peace efforts to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.