“According to an investigation by The Insider, billionaires close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin continue to make money by exporting goods to the West, bypassing sanctions, thanks to a loophole that allows companies to operate in EU markets if the share of shares of businessmen under sanctions is less than 50%”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: The Insider
Details: As the publication writes, the most odious Russian oligarchs, such as Gennadiy Timchenko, Alisher Usmanov and Oleg Deripaska, receive billions in profits from trade with Europe.
Advertising:
If a businessman falls under sanctions, this does not mean that restrictions are automatically imposed on his assets. To do this, he must control at least 50% of the company. The second option: if there are several sub-sanctioned co-owners, then they must own half of the shares in total.
Therefore, some oligarchs simply reduce their stake in the project to circumvent sanctions restrictions. Oleg Deripaska reduced its stake in En+ and Rusal. Today, Deripaska controls En+ by 35%. En+, for its part, owns almost 57% of the shares of Rusal, a large aluminum producer.
As the publication writes, Deripaska maintains his own PMK fighting in Ukraine with money from the West. During the full-scale war, from 2022 to 2024, Deripaska’s fortune increased more than one and a half times. Now, according to Forbes, they amount to $2.8 billion.
The second main shareholder of “Rusal”, Viktor Vekselbergavoids EU sanctions and continues to do business in Europe. He remains unpunished, despite the fact that, as part of close businessmen, he openly meets with Putin during the war, and the oligarch’s companies participate in the production of missiles that are used during the bombing of the territory of Ukraine.
Another way to get your business out of sanctions is to issue shares to company managers (as an option – with the right of repurchase), to relatives or other controlled persons. I chose a similar scheme Alisher Usmanov: he reduced his share in USM, now an oligarch close to the head of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev owns 49% of the holding. Therefore, after Usmanov was added to the EU sanctions list, USM stated that it would not affect the holding companies themselves.
USM includes, in particular, “Metaloinvest” – the largest iron ore company in Russia and the CIS. Enterprises of “Metaloinvest” export their products to European countries.
Usmanov’s partner in “Metalloinvest” is a member of the State Duma from “United Russia” Andriy Skoch. He himself is under sanctions, but the business is registered for his father Volodymyr and daughter Varvara, who are not subject to EU restrictions.
Since the beginning of the great war, the fortunes of Usmanov and the Skocha family have only increased: to $13.4 billion and $6.7 billion, respectively. In total, they became richer by almost $4 billion in two years.
A member of “United Russia” also earns money from trade with Europe Andriy Guryev and his partner Volodymyr Lytvynenkowho is believed to be the real author of Putin’s fake thesis.
Guryev’s family owns 48.5% of Fosagro, Russia’s largest producer of phosphate fertilizers.
Lytvynenko and his wife Tetiana, to whom he transferred more than 20% of Fosagro shares in 2022, are not subject to EU sanctions. And “Fosagro” freely exports its products to Europe. Litvinenko’s fortune will double from 2022: to $3 billion.
The oligarch supplies fertilizers to Europe and Eurochem Andrii Melnichenkowho reduced his stake in the company after falling under sanctions.
Roman Abramovich also continues to profit from trade with Europe. Abramovich owns 28.64% of the shares of Evraz, a large metallurgical and mining company. The company exports its products to France and the Czech Republic.
Abramovich is also a minority shareholder of Nornickel. The main owner of Potanin’s company is not sanctioned by the European Union, so the leader of the mining and metallurgical industry of Russia not only exports its products, but also owns production on the territory of Europe.
Putin’s “wallet”. Gennady Timchenko acts as a junior partner of billionaire Leonid Mikhelson. Tymchenko owns shares in Novatek (23.49%) and Sybur (17%). The main owner of the companies, Michelson, is not under EU sanctions, therefore, the restrictions do not apply to the companies from which Tymchenko receives profits.