KRASNOYARSK (Sputnik) – Russia is not linking the issue of providing a loan to Iran to Tehran’s position on a possible freeze of the output of oil, Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Anatoly Yanovsky said Saturday.
Last month, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said that Moscow and Tehran were in talks over Russia granting a $5-billion loan to the Islamic Republic.
"These things are not related, they are completely different. If we talk about a loan, this loan is for specific investment projects which are of mutual interest," Yanovsky said.
On Tuesday, the energy ministers of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar met in Doha. The four countries agreed to keep their average monthly oil output throughout 2016 at January levels if other major oil producers followed suit. According to Venezuela's minister, the agreement was later supported by Ecuador, Algeria, Nigeria, Oman and Kuwait.
Earlier this week, media reported, citing Iran’s envoy to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Mehdi Asali, that Tehran was unlikely to freeze its oil production levels, as it would be "illogical" in the context of the recent lifting of sanctions against them.
