Italian Executives Meet With Putin Amid Tension Over Ukraine

In Washington, the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s lobby group, said it recognizes the role of sanctions as a foreign-policy tool, but asked policy makers to target any new sanctions on Russia carefully so as not to harm the competitiveness of U.S. companies.

Western sanctions against Russia since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea have pushed many European companies to reduce their ties with Russia. But some big corporate names still have a large presence. Energy companies and commodities traders are among those most deeply involved in Russia, given the country’s vast reserves of oil and gas.

Mr. Putin, in comments shown on Russian television, hailed Italy as one of Russia’s leading economic partners. He said the value of trade between the two countries grew 53.8% in the first 11 months of last year. The volume of gas shipped to Italy by Russian state-owned gas giant PAO Gazprom also rose.

“We see serious prospects for expanding the Russian-Italian business partnership in other areas of the energy sector,” Mr. Putin told the meeting.

Oil company Eni SpA, in which the Italian government owns a stake, was among those that pulled out at Rome’s behest. Other big Italian companies, including tire maker Pirelli & C. SpA and pasta maker Barilla Group, took part and said the government hadn’t lobbied them to withdraw.

The European Union has often struggled to agree on a unified response to Mr. Putin’s aggressive moves in Eastern Europe. Many EU members are heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, especially in the winter months when demand for heating spikes, making it difficult for them to actively contest Moscow’s moves.

The Biden administration said this week that it aims to increase supplies of gas and oil to Europe from the Middle East, North Africa and Asia to help make up an energy shortfall if Russia turns off the taps, but it isn’t clear whether the plan can be instituted quickly or is a viable long-term strategy should tensions with Russia endure.

“Corporate interests are not driving European policy, but rather it’s the energy crisis angle,” said Nathalie Tocci, the director of the Institute for International Affairs, a Rome-based think tank. “It’s not about company X, Y or Z trying to get something done, but rather the overall energy relationship that Europe has with Russia.”

“Putin clearly decided to act now when some European countries are particularly vulnerable to a cutoff of the gas supply,” Ms. Tocci said.

However, Mr. Putin sees the corporate sector as a channel through which he can further soften Europe’s political response, Ms. Tocci said. “He has calculated that companies of certain countries are particularly invested in Russia and he identified Italy as a potentially weak link,” she said.

Western companies heavily exposed to Russia include privately held Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd., the biggest exporter of Russian oil among the clutch of major international commodity traders, according to people familiar with the matter. Vitol and Glencore PLC also are large exporters of Russian oil, industry insiders say. Russia is one of the world’s biggest global oil producers, with a 12% market share, according to JPMorgan Chase.

BP PLC has a 20% stake in Rosneft Oil Co. Swiss-based commodities giant Glencore has a 10.6% stake in EN+ Group PLC, a holding company that owns aluminum company United Co. Rusal PLC.

While Russia has some of the largest reserves of diamonds, precious metals, coal and other minerals, no large Western mining company is present in the country.

Russian participants on Wednesday’s videoconference—which was organized by the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and the Italian-Russian business committee—included the ministers for economic development, energy and finance. Igor Sechin, one of Mr. Putin’s closest allies and the head of Russia’s largest oil producer, state-controlled giant PJSC Rosneft, also attended, as did Dmitry Konov, chairman of the board of petrochemicals giant Sibur.

Mr. Konov is co-chairman of the Italian-Russian business committee. The other co-chairman, Pirelli Chief Executive Marco Tronchetti Provera, also attended.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian government, rejected suggestions that the meeting was intended to drum up support ahead of possible Western sanctions connected to the situation with Ukraine.

“That’s a twisted understanding,” he said. “These meetings are regular, not only with Italian but also with the largest businesses from other countries.”

The German Chambers of Commerce in Düsseldorf, in the northwest of the country where big German energy, steel and pharmaceutical companies are based, held an online conference on Jan. 13 with its members and Russian diplomats.

In addition to discussions about the Russian economy and business opportunities, senior executives pressed the German government to work for a diplomatic resolution to the tensions with Russia.

As German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was preparing to meet her Russian counterpart earlier this month, Germany’s business lobby urged the government to back away from tough action against Russia and to work harder to help broker a diplomatic solution to the conflict brewing over Ukraine and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

“The right way forward is to try and lower the tension,” Michael Harms, managing director for a lobby group for German businesses active in Eastern Europe and Russia. “We are signaling to the Russian side that such a deployment of troops is not helpful for our economic relationship and that everything must be done to reduce this tension again.”

For years, the committee has held an annual meeting with Mr. Putin to discuss bilateral business ties. The committee hasn’t yet set a date for this year’s meeting.

“In this historic period marked by the pandemic and many limitations, there is a growing risk of anti-Russian rhetoric and Russia phobia,” said Vincenzo Trani, the chairman of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce. “For us it’s fundamental to stimulate economic and business dialogue between Italy and Russia without fear.”

On the video link, Mr. Trani told Mr. Putin in Russian that his group aimed “to foster dialogue, including in periods when not everything is going well.” He also said that ties “between Italy and Russia, between our people, are more ancient than the existence of our governments.”

UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel was on the list of attendees. The bank wouldn’t confirm if he attended.

UniCredit recently showed interest in acquiring Russian bank PJSC Bank Otkritie Financial Corp. and had plans to do due diligence on the lender, according to a person familiar with the matter. Otkritie Bank was bailed out by the Russian central bank in 2017.

Guido Barilla, chairman of the pasta company that bears his family name, attended the conference. Barilla has a pasta-making facility in Russia and a mill where it processes Russian grain.

—Giovanni Legorano in Rome and Joe Wallace in London contributed to this article.

Write to Eric Sylvers at [email protected], Alistair MacDonald at [email protected] and William Boston at [email protected]