Source: The Insider
Details: According to the publication, the billion-dollar profits from trade with Europe are reaped by the most notorious Russian oligarchs, such as Gennady Timchenko, Alisher Usmanov, and Oleg Deripaska.
If a businessman is sanctioned, it does not automatically mean that restrictions are imposed on his assets. He must control at least 50% of the company for that to happen. The second option: if there are several sanctioned co-owners, they must collectively own half of the shares.
Thus, some oligarchs circumvent sanctions by simply reducing their stakes in projects. Oleg Deripaska has cut his stake in En+ and Rusal. Today, Deripaska controls En+ at 35%. En+, in turn, owns nearly 57% of Rusal, a major aluminum producer.
As reported, Deripaska uses funds from the West to maintain his private military company that is fighting in Ukraine. During the full-scale war from 2022 to 2024, Deripaska's wealth has increased by more than one and a half times. According to Forbes, it currently stands at $2.8 billion.
The second main shareholder of Rusal, Viktor Vekselberg, avoids EU sanctions and continues to do business in Europe. He remains unpunished despite being seen meeting with Putin during the war, and his companies are involved in the production of missiles used to bomb Ukraine.
Another way to shield a business from sanctions is to transfer shares to company managers (as an option—with a buyback clause), relatives, or other controlled individuals. A similar scheme has been adopted by Alisher Usmanov: he has reduced his stake in USM, and now the oligarch close to United Russia party chairman Dmitry Medvedev owns 49% of the holding. Therefore, after Usmanov was added to the EU sanctions list, USM stated that the companies within the holding would not be affected.
USM includes, among others, "Metalloinvest"—the largest iron ore company in Russia and the CIS. Metalloinvest's enterprises export their products to European countries.
Usmanov's partner in "Metalloinvest" is State Duma deputy from "United Russia" Andrei Skoch. He is under sanctions, but the business is registered in the name of his father Vladimir and daughter Varvara, who are not subject to EU restrictions.
Since the onset of the large-scale war, Usmanov and the Skoch family's wealth has only increased: to $13.4 billion and $6.7 billion, respectively. In total, over two years, they have become nearly $4 billion richer.
Additionally, profits from trade with Europe are being made by "United Russia" member Andrei Guryev and his partner Vladimir Litvinenko, who is considered the true author of Vladimir Putin's fake dissertation.
The Guryev family owns 48.5% of "PhosAgro"—the largest producer of phosphorus fertilizers in Russia.
Litvinenko and his wife Tatiana, to whom he transferred more than 20% of "PhosAgro" shares in 2022, are not under EU sanctions. "PhosAgro" freely exports its products to Europe. Litvinenko's wealth has doubled since 2022, reaching $3 billion.
"Eurochem," owned by oligarch Andrei Melichenko, also supplies fertilizers to Europe and has reduced his stake in the company after being sanctioned.
Roman Abramovich continues to profit from trade with Europe as well. Abramovich owns 28.64% of "Evraz," a large metallurgical and mining company. The enterprise exports products to France and the Czech Republic.
Abramovich is also a minority shareholder of "Norilsk Nickel." The main owner of the company, Potanin, is not sanctioned by the EU, allowing the leader of Russia's mining and metallurgical industry to not only export products but also own production facilities in Europe.
Putin's "wallet" Gennady Timchenko acts as a junior partner to billionaire Leonid Mikhelson. Timchenko holds stakes in "Novatek" (23.49%) and "Sibur" (17%). The main owner of these companies, Mikhelson, is not under EU sanctions, so the companies from which Timchenko derives profit are also unaffected by restrictions.