AFP/Moscow

Igor Sechin, the head of Russia’s state oil giant Rosneft, spoke out yesterday against attempts to revisit business contracts as the Kremlin is locked in a bitter showdown with the West over Ukraine.

Sechin, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most trusted lieutenants, spoke as Moscow moved yesterday to cut Ukraine’s gas supply, charging that Kiev had violated its contractual obligations by refusing to pay outstanding bills.

“The contract should be a sacred component, it should be applied,” said the Rosneft chief executive, who is among the Russian officials targeted by US punitive measures over the Ukraine crisis. Speaking at a major petroleum conference in Moscow that has brought together leading energy companies, he added that “honouring the contracts should not be a method of applying political pressure”.

A number of Western firms are believed to be reviewing their commitments to Russia after Washington and Brussels slapped sanctions on the Kremlin and the local economy took a turn for the worse.

But energy chiefs and political titans who descended on Moscow for the World Petroleum Congress were expected to stress the West’s commitment to energy investments in Russia despite the Western sanctions.

Europe faced gas supply disruptions yesterday after Russia switched Ukraine to a prepayment system.