LONDON

 U.K.’s Department of Energy and Climate Change has disapproved Monday the sale of 12 British oil and gas fields in the North Sea by German utilities company RWE to Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman’s LetterOne fund.  

RWE announced last year that it was to sell 12 oil and gas fields that it owns in the U.K. part of the North Sea for €5 billion ($5.6 billion), to LetterOne, headed by Mikhail Fridman, who is Russia's second-richest man according to the 2015 rankings established by the business magazine Forbes.

"Considering the possibility of future sanctions against LetterOne, Energy Secretary Ed Davey has concerns over the safe production of the resources in the 12 British oil and gas fields that are being considered to be sold," the statement by U.K.’s Department of Energy and Climate read.

The punitive measures in the form of sanctions imposed by the West came after Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 after holding a much-contested referendum in the peninsula.  

The measures target Russian banks, arms industry and oil companies, and prohibit Western companies from, for instance, selling high-tech drilling equipment to Russia. The U.S. and the EU sanctions also prevent Russian energy companies from borrowing from western financial institutions.