Is this a back door attempt to get around sanctions against Russia?

Fuel Fix:

Dresser-Rand Group and its potential Swiss industrial buyer have at least one thing in common: an ultra-rich Russian metallurgy and energy tycoon with ties to Moscow.

Renova Group, a conglomerate run by the billionaire Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, said Friday it has snapped up a 4.99 percent stake in the Houston oil field equipment maker, though it didn’t say when it made the purchase. The same group owns 30.2 percent of Sulzer Ltd., the Swiss pump maker that confirmed earlier this week it is talking to Dresser-Rand about a potential merger.

Renova, which said in a statement it was responding to “speculation” that it was involved in Dresser-Rand, added that it wouldn’t comment further.

The connection between Dresser-Rand, which makes gas turbines and centrifugal compressors, and Sulzer comes at a time when the United States and the European Union are using strict sanctions to apply pressure to Russia’s energy and financial industries and its aristocracy as tension in Ukraine escalates. The sanctions have hit Russia’s energy sector – and even western players like Exxon Mobil.

And while the U.S. did impose sanctions on several Russian officials and four billionaires that are part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, none of the sanctions apply directly to Vekselberg.

Still, a 12-year-old, $1 billion lawsuit that names Vekselberg and Renova as two among several defendants in a racketeering and corruption case was revived by a New York state court in late June, after it had been thrown out by a lower court because it fell beyond the statute of limitations. That suit, brought by Canada’s Norex Petroleum, alleged the defendants took control of its stake in a Siberian oil field “using armed militiamen and corrupt Russian court proceedings” after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Vekselberg, whose stake in Dresser-Rand is worth about $308 million on Friday, is Russia’s third-richest oligarch, with a fortune of $16.7 billion, according to Forbes.
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I think this deal is going to need close scrutiny to determine whether Moscow is trying evade sanctions with the purchase.  It appears the Swiss group has been outbid by the German Siemens industrial conglomerate,  The Germans are trying to diversify because they have been hamstrung by that country's Big Green movement.  I would still be wary of the Russians attempt to buy technology.