MOSCOW, May 2 - RAPSI. President Dmitry Medvedev abstained from settling any corporate disputes during his presidency, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Several serious conflicts have recently arisen in Russia between shareholders of major companies. The most high-profile have been the dispute between Russian and British shareholders of TNK-BP oil giant as well as the protracted legal battle between Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska, stockholders of Norilsk Nickel non-ferrous metallurgical corporation.

"He has never taken any decision on their behalf or interfered into the dispute, but merely urged the parties to come to terms. He just said that it would be better to settle these matters. We should not be impairing our investment climate by own conduct," noted Dvorkovich.

BP and Rosneft signed a share swap agreement in January 2011. Rosneft was set to obtain 5% of BP's ordinary shares in exchange for 9.5% of its shares and agreed to cooperate in oil exploration and production in the Arctic Region. The transaction amounted to $16 billion, while the estimated investments in the project's first stage were expected to reach $1.4-2 billions. Nevertheless, AAR Consortium, ВР's Russian partner in TNK-ВР joint venture, claimed that the swap agreement ran counter to the companys shareholders agreement. The company filed a lawsuit and the deal was later blocked. Negotiations came to a close in June.

Depipaska's Rusal and Potanin's Interros, 30-percent interest in Norilsk Nickel are in disagreement of the company's management in many aspects. Rusal currently seeks invalidation of Norilsk Nickel's annual general meeting resolutions, the buy-back and a number of other transactions.

Norilsk Nickel has repeatedly offered Rusal to purchase its stake or its portion in order to facilitate a resolution, but the aluminum company has rejected the offers every time.