In a veiled threat, Russia has hinted at Indian investment in its oil and gas fields getting impacted in the wake of problems its telecom major Sistema faces here due to the cancellation of its 2G licences.

“There can be no investment from the Indian side (in Russia) if such things happen to our investment here. It takes two to tango, you know,” Russian Ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin said.

He referred to investments by Indian firms, particularly ONGC Videsh Ltd’s over $2 billion investment in the Far East Russian oil and gas field of Sakhalin-1, as “shining examples” of Russia welcoming Indian investments.

Kadakin said Moscow would not let $3.1 billion Sistema invested in its Indian telecom venture go waste due to “internal problems” here.

“The Russian Government will never allow $3.1 billion just be thrown into abyss. This must be understood. This is also (Russian) tax payer’s money. The share which government holds. It is about $1 billion,” Kadakin said in an interview to CNBC TV18. “We are not to throw our money, $3.1 billion, into the inferno because of your internal political problems,” he added.

Sistema holds 56.68% stake in Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd, whose 21 out of 22 licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court in February on the grounds that the 122 permits issued by the then Telecom Minister A Raja were ‘arbitrary and unconstitutional’. The Russian government holds 17.14% stake in SSTL.

“It is not only judicial problem but political problem (also),” he said.

SSTL acted in “strict accordance with all laws and regulations of India and bought the license for the frequencies, not claimed by anyone”, Kadakin said. The matter has more “political content” than “judicial content”, he added.

“Being bona fide buyer of licence, we were thunderstruck when the whole thing all of a sudden changed here in India and all those licences were pronounced invalid,” he said. “I feel the problem is…I mean the judicial and other authorities, they did not make distinction between our company, which was a bona fide buyer.”

Source: Business Standard

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