The Federal Administrative Court has confirmed the trusteeship of two German subsidiaries of the Russian oil company Rosneft. The order by the Federal Ministry of Economics was lawful, the court in Leipzig ruled on Tuesday. Last September, the federal government had de facto control of Rosneft Germany and RN Refining with the trust administration

Rosneft had sued the trusteeship. The Federal Administrative Court held oral arguments for four days and extensively interviewed witnesses about the situation at the German Rosneft subsidiaries last year. The federal government had justified the trusteeship with an imminent threat to security of supply as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine. According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, the German subsidiaries had considerable problems against the background of the Russia sanctions last summer. Banks and insurance companies have terminated the cooperation or threatened to do so.

The Russian parent company wanted to withdraw liquidity. In addition, the German companies had shown no interest in looking for alternatives to the Russian oil from the Druzhba pipeline, which was processed at PCK in Schwedt. Two former Rosneft managing directors had largely denied these difficulties in the negotiation. With the legal construction of the state trust administration of a private company with foreign owners, the federal government had entered new legal territory. The trust administration by the Federal Network Agency expires on March 15, but is likely to be extended.