The Kremlin offered Trump access to Russian oil and the Arctic

^{Photo: CNN}
The Kremlin has offered the administration of US President Donald Trump a deal on Russian natural resources, The Moscow Times reports.

"Russia believes that US oil companies can return to the country, and is also interested in joint projects with the US in the Arctic," Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said before the start of the talks in Saudi Arabia.

Dmitriev, one of three delegates selected by Vladimir Putin to meet with the Americans in Riyadh, said that Moscow considers it important to restore economic cooperation with the US.

Dmitriev said that major US oil companies have had "very successful business" in Russia and expressed confidence that they will return someday.

"We need to implement joint projects, including in the Arctic and in other areas. Joint projects will allow us to be even more successful," Dmitriev continued.

According to him, American companies have allegedly lost $300 billion from sanctions against Russia, and the Joe Biden administration has "given a lot of false information" about the state of the Russian economy.

Before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, only one major American company was engaged in oil production in Russia: it was Exxon Mobil, which owned 30 percent of the Sakhalin-1 project. After the sanctions were imposed, the company announced its withdrawal from the project, but was unable to sell its stake. Initially, this was expected to happen in 2023, but the Kremlin extended the deadline twice - the last time until the end of 2026.

After the war began, leading American oil services companies Halliburton, Schlumberger and Baker Hughes also announced their departure from Russia. They had helped the country recover from the oil production slump that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. President Vladimir Putin has demanded that the country develop its own technologies for drilling and exploring for hydrocarbons and increase their share to 80 percent by 2025. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”