Gennady Timchenko, Alisher Usmanov and Oleg Deripaska earn billions in income.
Billionaires close to Vladimir Putin continue to earn money by exporting goods to the West, using loopholes to bypass sanctions.
The Insider reported this.
The system allows companies to operate in EU markets if the share of shares of sanctioned businessmen is less than 50%. Another option: if several co-owners are under sanctions, then their total share should be half of the shares. Therefore, Russian oligarchs are reducing their shares in companies to avoid sanctions.
“As a result, odious oligarchs such as Gennady Timchenko, Alisher Usmanov and Oleg Deripaska receive billions in profits from trade with Europe,” the report says.
Thus, Oleg Deripaska reduced his stake in En+ and Rusal, which allows him to bypass sanctions. He uses the funds to support a private military company fighting against Ukraine. During the full-scale war, his fortune increased by one and a half times and amounts to $2.8 billion. Another Rusal shareholder, Viktor Vekselberg, also avoids sanctions, despite his ties to the Russian government and the participation of his companies in weapons production.
Another way for a business to avoid sanctions is to transfer shares to the company's managers, relatives or other controlled persons. Alisher Usmanov used this method – he transferred part of the shares of his company USM to managers, which allowed the holding to avoid restrictions after it was included in the EU sanctions list. A similar tactic was chosen by Andrey Skoch, Usmanov's partner in Metalloinvest and a member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. His business is registered to his father Vladimir and daughter Varvara, who are not subject to sanctions. Since the start of the full-scale war, Usmanov's fortune has grown to $13.4 billion, and the Skoch family's fortune to $6.7 billion. In total, their wealth has increased by $4 billion.
Andrey Guryev, a member of United Russia, and his partner Vladimir Litvinenko receive significant income from trade with Europe. Guryev owns 48.5% of the shares of the Russian company PhosAgro, the largest producer of phosphate fertilizers in the country. Litvinenko, who transferred part of the shares to his wife Tatyana, is not subject to EU sanctions, which allows the company to freely export products to Europe. As a result, Litvinenko's fortune has grown to $ 3 billion since 2022.
< p > At the same time, another company, EuroChem, owned by oligarch Andrey Melnichenko, also supplies fertilizers to Europe. He also reduced his stake.
< p > Despite the sanctions, Roman Abramovich continues to receive significant profits from trade with Europe. He owns 28.64% of the shares of Evraz, which exports metallurgical and mining products to France and the Czech Republic. In addition, Abramovich is a minority shareholder in Norilsk Nickel, which is also not subject to EU sanctions, due to the absence of restrictions for the company's main owner, Potanin.
Gennady Timchenko, a close associate of Vladimir Putin, continues to receive income due to his shares in Novatek (23.49%) and Sibur (17%). Since the main owner of these companies, Leonid Mikhelson, is not subject to EU sanctions, Timchenko's business does not experience restrictions.
Recall that the European Union recently adopted another package of sanctions against Russia.
Related topics:
More news
