Kommersant: Rosneft and Gazprom in EU's crosshairs

The European Union has made a list of 130 officials and directors of big companies, who may be hit by sanctions.

Kommersant (Russia) writes it referring to European and American diplomatic sources.

Heads of Rosneft and Gazprom, Igor Sechin and Alexei Miller, may be targeted by sanctions, according to the newspaper. They can be banned from entering the EU and their assets can be frozen. However, it remains unknown when and how the restrictions will be introduced.

It is managers who may suffer from restrictions, but the West can analyse the situation and hit Russian state-owned companies working abroad.

So, the regulators can block the purchase of Morgan Stanley's oil-trading unit by Rosneft. The Wall Street Journal said Friday with a reference to its sources that the deal could be blocked by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

However, the Russian company said last week the parties were working according to an agreed schedule. The deal is planned to be closed in the second half of 2014.

Bild (Germany) earlier reported that both blacklists (prepared by the EU and the US) can include Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, FSB director Alexander Bortnikov, head of the president's administration Sergei Ivanov, deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin, secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, president's advisors Sergei Glazyev and Vladislav Surkov, chairman of the Duma's committee on international affairs Alexei Pushkov, commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Alexander Vitko and LDPR leader Vladimir Zhironovsky.

The EU Council is expected to discuss sanctions against Russia at a meeting today.