KIEV, March 9 – A shadowy company with ties to a Ukrainian businessman wanted by has been awarded an oil and gas exploration license for the Crimean Black Sea shelf, and the Kremlin’s spokesman is directing questions about it to the cabinet.

The news about Novye Proekty was published by Kommersant earlier this week, sparking speculation, since according to some sources cited by the daily, the company was linked to fugitive Ukrainian energy and media businessman Serhiy Kurchenko, who is wanted by the Ukrainian authorities for the so-called “Kurchenko scheme”, which included fake oil deliveries and a number of other dubious enterprises. Kurchenko, according to Kommersant, currently lives in Moscow.