VILNIUS — After meeting with Vladimir Putin Wednesday evening, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė said that Russian companies may purchase the Polish-owned Orlen Lietuva oil refinery.

The refinery is one of the largest companies in Lithuania — it earns the most revenue of any company in the country and pays more taxes than any other private entity. The largest shareholder in PK Orlen, Orlen Lietuva’s parent company, is the Polish government, and Grybauskaitė said the Russian prime minister confirmed what the Polish press has been speculating about TNK-BP and Gazprom’s interest in the refinery.

“Mr. Putin has confirmed this,” Grybauskaitė told Reuters on Wednesday.

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