VTB boss says Rosneft sale 'paid for by foreign firms' - Tass

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The acquisition of a 19.5 percent stake in Russia's Rosneft oil firm was paid for by foreign companies, Tass news agency quoted Andrei Kostin, Chief Executive of Russian state lender VTB, as saying on Wednesday.

Kostin declined to comment on what role VTB played in the transaction, Tass reported.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Maria Kiselyova)