The largest Russian oil companies look to the President for protection

As the Kommersant has got to know, scandal arose around the new government policy on procurement and import substitution. The seven largest Russian oil and gas companies declaimed against it. They are dissatisfied with a bill, already approved by the State Duma in the first reading, which puts the industry under special control, creating the risk of disclosure of business information and reducing the use of schemes to circumvent sanctions. The document is fraught with problems in other industries too, but not everybody has read it carefully there. The oil companies believe that the Parliament Building incorrectly interpreted the ideas of Vladimir Putin. He will be able to clarify the situation at a special meeting with the Government today.

In mid-April, leaders of Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazpromneft, Zarubezhneft, Bashneft, Surgutneftegaz and Novatek wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin, criticized the amendments to the Federal Law "On Procurements". The latter were developed on the basis of the President's speech to the Federal Assembly in December 2014. He proposed to create "a special coordination centre, task of which will be to link the implementation of major projects with the placement of orders at Russian companies". "We need to remove the critical dependence on foreign technology and industrial products," - said the President. In March, the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev reported that he would head the new agency, on April 21, the State Duma approved the corresponding draft law in the first reading.