UK sanctions Evraz founding directors

The UK foreign, commonwealth and development office announced the sanctioning on 2 November of four more Russian individuals. Two of them are former executives and proprietors of steelmaker and miner Evraz, Kallanish learns from the office.

The government statement says the sanctions apply to “four oligarchs who have enabled Putin to mobilise Russian industries to support his military effort”.

Two of the four individuals are Alexander Abramov, a former non-executive director of Evraz, and Alexander Frolov, a former director and chief executive. The two are Evraz founding directors, as well as major shareholders, alongside Roman Abramovich, who was sanctioned in March, shortly after Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine.

According to the UK foreign office’s statement, “the pair, known to be business associates of Roman Abramovich, previously owned major stakes in Russian steel manufacturer Evraz plc, are thought to have an estimated global net worth of £4.1 billion and £1.7 billion respectively, and are reported to have UK property investments worth an estimated £100 million.”

Both, the statement says, “had been involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia by working as a Director at Evraz PLC, an entity carrying on business in sectors of strategic significance to the Russian government, namely, the extractive sector, the transport sector, and the construction sector.”

Evraz is a vertically integrated steel producer with iron ore and coking coal mining assets in Russia, long and flat steel production in Russia, the US, Canada and Kazakhstan, and ferroalloys in Czech Republic. On 10 August, the company announced its intention to start negotiations to sell its 3.5 million tonnes/year capacity North American assets.

Evraz’s London Stock Exchange listing and all appropriate programmes were cancelled in March, shortly after the sanctioning of Abramovich.

Katya Ourakova UK