(Bloomberg) — The European Union approved sanctions against 14 wealthy Russian individuals and some of their family members and more than 140 members of the upper house of the Russian Parliament as part of the bloc’s latest response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Dmitry Mazepin, the owner and chief executive officer of the mineral fertilizer company Uralchem, was included in the list of sanctioned individuals, as well as his son, Nikita, the Formula 1 driver whose contract was recently terminated with the Haas F1 Team, according to the EU’s official journal.
The list also includes Andrey Melnichenko, the founder and controlling shareholder of EuroChem, a producer of mineral fertilizers and agricultural products; Vadim Moshkovich, founder and controlling shareholder of publicly traded Ros Agro Plc, one of Russia’s largest agricultural companies; Andrey Guryev, the chief executive officer of PhosAgro PJSC, Europe’s biggest manufacturer of phosphate fertilizers; and the chief executive of Russia’s national airline Aeroflot, Mikhail Poluboyarinov.
The EU also agreed to cut off three Belarusian banks from the SWIFT international payments system, Belagroprombank, Bank Dabrabyt and the Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus, according to the regulations. The measures will also restrict exports of maritime navigation technologies to Russia. A package to better enforce sanctions, including when assets are held in crypto currencies, was also approved.
SWIFT Ban
Other names on the list include Russian billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky, who owns TMK PJSC, the biggest steel pipemaker in the country, and Vladimir Kiriyenko, chief executive of the social network VK.
Melnichenko also controls Suek, Russia’s largest supplier of thermal coal. He is Russia’s second-richest person and has a fortune of $21 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Melnichenko on Wednesday resigned from the board and ceased to be the beneficiary and controlling shareholder of Eurochem, his spokesman Alex Andreev said by phone. Eurochem is based in Zug, Switzerland, not Russia, he added.
“Andrey Melnichenko is an international self-made businessman, entrepreneur and investor in children’s education” with “no relation to the tragic events in Ukraine” and with “no political affiliations,” his spokesman said in the emailed statement.
Further Measures
Some members of the sanctioned individuals’ families are also on the list.
Guryev is the son of Andrey Guryev Senior who founded PhosAgro and whose family holds a controlling stake in the company. Guryev Senior is worth $5.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Read More: Germany Is Stalling EU Efforts to Broaden Russia’s SWIFT Ban
The measures are the EU’s latest move to ratchet up pressure on Moscow as the invasion becomes more intense. Several countries want to see how events develop on the ground in Ukraine, before implementing further stringent measures, according to several diplomats familiar with discussions that have taken place. Some member nations also want to avoid inflicting too much pain on Europe, particularly amid an energy crunch when the continent remains highly reliant on Russian supplies.
Separately, Germany has emerged as the main roadblock to broadening the SWIFT ban to Russia’s biggest bank. Berlin also urged caution against targeting access to ports due to the risk that non-sanctioned goods could get hit by the measure.
(Updates with Melnichenko’s resignation from Eurochem in seventh paragraph)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
