Rosneft chief Igor Sechin has told the Russian government that carbon border taxes could do “incomparably greater damage” to the Russian economy than “illegal restrictions imposed on Russia and Russian companies” (i.e. international sanctions). The EU is planning to introduce carbon border taxes from 2026, forcing countries exporting carbon-intensive goods into the bloc to pay as an import tax the equivalent they would have paid for carbon permits under the EU Emissions Trading System. The comments by Mr Sechin were made in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin dated 30 June this year, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant. The news – if true – is highly interesting in that it suggests that parts of the Russian economy may be encouraged into low-carbon forms of its key exports (such as hydrocarbons) through carbon border taxes. According to Kommersant, however, Mr Sechin proposed that Russia should seek to be put on a list of countries that are exempt from the carbon border tax because of the greenhouse gas absorption capacity of its ecosystems. Russia is, however, already working on at least some ‘blue’ and ‘green’ hydrocarbon projects.