Filenews 19 March 2022 - by Angelos Nikolaou
The new people on the European Union's blacklist, which includes Russian oligarchs, have a Cypriot scent. The sanctions concern the persons themselves as well as certain undertakings in which they participate either as shareholders or in various positions of companies including the Board of Directors.
In one of the companies that acquired last June European companies of Ascendis Health Ltd, which also consists of the company Remedica Ltd, which specializes in the development, production and sale of high-quality safe and effective pharmaceutical products for human use, and the Luxembourg-based company Letterone Investment Holdings SA. In these companies, a number of Russian oligarchs participated. They are Mikhail Friedman, Petr Aven, German Khan, Alexei Kuzmitsev and Andrei Kosogov, who were removed from their positions by Letterone's decision on 8/3/2022. Friedman, Aven, Kuzmitsev and Khan are the main shareholders of the Alfa Group, which includes Alfa Bank Russia. The March 14 list includes Kuzmitsev and Khan, while bankers Friedman and Aven are on a previous list.
In the latest list of sanctions that included Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, there is also mentioned the name of the Russian oligarch and chairman of the strategic planning committee of the company Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works, Viktor Rasnikov. The latter is the main owner of one of the largest industrial companies in Russia, MMK (87.26% of the shares since 2015), which was controlled through the Cypriot company Mintha Holding Limited. On 3/3/2022, MMK's main shareholder Viktor Rasnikov transferred his stake from Cyprus-based Mintha Holding to the Russian Altair LLC. The steel company MMK in a statement said that the decision was made taking into account the declining attractiveness of Cyprus and in order to exploit the advantages created in Russia in the field of corporate regulation.
For days now, Sulejman Kerimov, owner of the financial and industrial group Nafta Moscow and member of the Council of the Federation from the Republic of Dagestan, closed his offices in Nicosia, sacking all staff. The net worth of Kerimov's and his family's fortune is estimated at $9.8 billion. Kerimov was on the EU sanctions list of 15/3/2022, because on 24/2/2022 he participated in a meeting of oligarchs in the Kremlin with Vladimir Putin on the impact of the actions following the sanctions imposed by the West.
The EU has extended the blacklist for Russia to include businessmen, journalists and companies from the country. In addition to the oligarchs, the list includes lobbyists and propagandists who, according to the Commission, promote the Kremlin's narrative of the situation in Ukraine, as well as key companies in the fields of aviation, military and dual-use, shipbuilding and machining. In the list we also find Aleksandr Sokin, president of the Russian Association of Industrialists and Businessmen, vice-chairman of the board of Mechel PAO and member of the bureau of the supreme council of the political party "United Russia". The headquarters of the largest Russian oil drilling company Eurasia Drilling are located in Cyprus where Sokin retains the position of director.
Sanctions were also imposed on Vladimir Rasevski, managing director and director of EuroChem Group AG, one of the world's largest producers of mineral fertilisers. Previously (between 2004 and 2020) he was the managing director of coal company JSC Suek. These are large Russian companies, co-owned by Russian billionaire Andrei Melnitsenko. The two people operate with many companies in Cyprus.
