MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday shrugged off reported restrictions on Russian business leaders who take part in the Davos world economic forum in January and said it welcomed a move by the organizers to lift a ban on several Russian tycoons.
The Financial Times reported last month that Oleg Deripaska, Viktor Vekselberg and Andrey Kostin had been told to stay away from the high-profile forum due to caution over dealing with business people under sanctions from Washington.
Russia's RIA news agency cited a government source on Saturday as saying the ban had been lifted. But online news portal The Bell reported on Monday that organizers had made lifting the ban conditional on the Russian business people not appearing on panels with U.S. citizens at the forum or attending any U.S.-organized side events.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Moscow welcomed the move to allow the business leaders to attend and shrugged off any restrictions on them, saying they could meet business people and officials from other nations instead.