Leonid Mikhelson, director of Russian natural gas producer Novatek and one of Russia’s richest men, says the new US sanctions against his company’s project are “an assessment of our professionalism,” Reuters reports.

Speaking at an energy conference in Samarkand, he commented on sanctions announced by the United States on Thursday against the Arctic LNG-2 project, which aims to develop the Morning gas field in northwestern Siberia and build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plant. on the nearby Hyda Peninsula.

The name of the project comes from the fact that both the gas field and the peninsula are located on the Arctic coast of Siberia.

“I think 2022 is to blame, I liked the $30-$35 MBTu prices. I wish they would stay. The fewer projects there are, the higher the price will be,” the Russian Interfax agency quoted Michelson as saying.

“Otherwise, the fact that sanctions were imposed against us is an assessment of our professionalism,” he added.

With a fortune estimated by Bloomberg at $27.6 billion, Mikhelson is the second-richest person in Russia after Vladimir Potanin, chairman and largest shareholder of Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and refined nickel.

Leonid Mikhelson has been under US sanctions for 6 years

The United States has imposed sanctions on Michelson since 2017 over legislation passed by Congress to punish Russian oligarchs for funding Russia’s military effort in Syria to prop up the Bashar al-Assad regime and funding Russian interference in the US election.

The State Department in Washington announced Thursday that it is imposing new sanctions on Russia’s energy and mining sectors to reduce the Russian government’s ability to finance the war, as well as “all those who support the war effort.”

The U.S. Treasury Department also announced that it is increasing sanctions against 130 individuals and entities involved in trade with Russia and allowing Vladimir Putin’s country to purchase “necessary technology and equipment” for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

“Russia depends on individuals and entities in other countries to upgrade its equipment and continue its despicable war against Ukraine, and we will not hesitate to hold them accountable,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was quoted as saying in a press release.

The US Treasury Department believes that Russia benefits from its trade ties with China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which have become “trading hubs for the export, re-export and transfer of foreign technology and equipment to Russia.”

Ukraine welcomes new US sanctions against Russian companies

Novatek owns 60% of the shares of the Arctic LNG-2 project, which has come under new US sanctions. Other participants in the project include the French TotalEnergies, two Chinese companies and Japan Arctic LNG. Each of these companies owns 10% of the shares in the created consortium.

Russia had expected Arctc LNG to begin producing liquefied natural gas by the end of this year or early 2024, but it is not yet clear to what extent it will be affected by the new sanctions.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the new measure announced by Washington as “very strong” and “necessary”, noting that this package of sanctions is aimed at “critical sectors for the Russian economy”.

“Every decision on sanctions must be in full force – so that Russia has no chance to circumvent the sanctions,” he said Thursday evening.

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