Russian energy giants face contagion risk

Constrained by sanctions, firms are tied to the fortunes of domestic banks

Russia's leading energy companies are at risk from a growing crisis in the nation's banking sector, which has led to the rescue of three of the top five privately-owned financial institutions in the past five months. Russneft and Lukoil, two privately-owned oil companies, have direct equity exposure to banks that have been rescued by the state, while Kremlin-controlled Rosneft has given another lender in peril the responsibility of refinancing its massive debt pile. Russia's banking system is creaking as the economy threatens to return to recession, a year after emerging from its longest contraction in two decades. In January, analysts at JP Morgan said Russia, the world's biggest energy exp