Shell CEO Ben van Beurden bows to President Putin during a meeting held on 18 April 2014
By John Donovan
Royal Dutch Shell directors must be feeling anxious again.
For some years Shell continued to trade with Iran despite U.S. sanctions and engaged in machinations in an attempt to disguise what was going on.
Today, President Obama escalated sanctions against Russia, targeting in particular Russian energy giant Rosneft and Gazprombank, the financial arm of Gazprom.
Rosneft and Gazprom are controlled by the Putin regime and both have important business dealings with Shell.