Washington, Nov 10 (IANS) The US Department of Treasury on Friday announced that it has decided to delay the implementation of sanctions on three Russian companies for four more weeks.

The move has been seen as an extension to give the companies' top shareholder Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska more time to cut down his stakes, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Treasury said in a statement that it will extend its sanctions date on EN+ Group, United Company RUSAL, and GAZ Group from December 12 to January 7, 2019. The three Russian companies was designated in April for the connections with Deripaska.

"EN+, RUSAL, and GAZ are proposing substantial corporate governance changes that could potentially result in significant changes in control of these sanctioned entities," said a Treasury spokesperson in the statement.

The sanctions have been delayed several times since its announcement in April.

--IANS vc