"Our request for $1.8 billion is under consideration at VEB but no decision has yet been made. We are holding negotiations as we consider the interest rate to be very high," LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov said.
Russia has been hard-hit by the global credit crisis, which has felled Western banks and pushed developed economies into recession. The country's stock markets have lost around two thirds of their value since their May highpoints, amid declining oil prices and other investor concerns.
Russia's government and Central Bank have recently taken urgent measures to pump billions of U.S. dollars into the domestic stock market to shore up the liquidity of leading market players.
In particular, the Central Bank has granted $50 billion in subordinated loans to Russian companies and banks via VEB to help them refinance their foreign liabilities.
Russian aluminum giant RusAl confirmed on Wednesday that it had obtained a $4.5 billion loan from VEB to repay its foreign liabilities.
RusAl said the funds would be used "to repay a loan received from a syndicate of Western banks in April 2008 to buy 25% plus two shares in mining and metals enterprise Norilsk Nickel."
RusAl, established in March 2007 through a merger of Russian aluminum giants RusAl and SUAL and Swiss Glencore's alumina assets, said the VEB loan had been granted for a term of 1 year with an extension option at Libor + 5%. RusAl has put up 25% of Norilsk Nickel shares as collateral for the loan.
In a separate statement also on Wednesday, RusAl said it had repaid the $4.5 billion loan to the 11 Western banks early.
