Russia's Rosneft terms buying oil from Venezuela as 'purely commercial operations'

Russia's top oil producer Rosneft said on Tuesday that U.S. statements that it had violated U.S. sanctions in its Venezuela activities were "groundless accusations". Pompeo said this week Rosneft was defying U.S. sanctions by buying oil from Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA.

Rosneft said it was not involved in politics and was conducting "purely commercial operations" in line with international law. It said any contracts were secured before the latest U.S. sanctions were imposed in January and it might seek legal action to defend itself if necessary.