Heavy blow to Russian oligarch Usmanov: Ukraine seizes 160,000 tons of iron ore
Created: 12/30/2022, 4:50 am
By: Klaus Wiendl
Ukraine has seized assets of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov.
© Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/dpa
Ukraine is said to have struck a heavy blow against the oligarch Usmanov and the Russian iron industry.
Ore was to be smuggled into Russia.
Update from December 28, 4:00 p.m.:
Now the entrepreneur and Kremlin friend Alisher Usmanov commented on the confiscation of the iron ore.
In a press release from Metalloinvest, in which he holds 49 percent of the shares, he accuses Ukraine of misinformation and misleading.
The confiscation of wartime cargo – intended for foreign customers, according to the statement – happened in February of this year “without any legal basis whatsoever”.
The fact that this expropriation was "officially announced" by the secret service only after almost a year speaks in his eyes exclusively "for the PR goals of this action".
Usmanov has not denied the confiscation of the assets.
First report from December 28, 9:39 a.m.:
Rottach-Egern – According to a Ukrainian media report, secret warehouses with more than 160,000 tons of iron ore have been discovered in several seaports in the country.
They are said to belong to the USM group owned by the Russian billionaire and entrepreneur Alisher Usmanow.
According to the Ukrainian internet platform korrespondent.net
, the value of the confiscated goods is
estimated at over 50 million euros.
This message from the security service of Ukraine cannot yet be verified.
Usmanov's iron ore was to be smuggled to Russia
Should this report correspond to the facts, it would be another severe blow to Putin confidant Usmanov (69).
He has been on the EU sanctions list since early March because of his close ties to warmonger Vladimir Putin.
On September 20, four villas at Tegernsee in Bavaria, which are attributed to Usmanov, were the focus of a large-scale raid by German investigators.
They were also interested in his accounts with two branches of the major Swiss bank UBS in Frankfurt and Munich.
It is said to be about 90 suspected money laundering reports at German financial institutions, as well as about half a billion euros in evaded taxes.
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And now, as it became known shortly after Christmas, it is about hidden raw materials in Ukraine, which were apparently intended to be smuggled into Russia, according to the online service.
He quotes the Security Service of Ukraine: "It has been established that the uncovered lot of iron ore belongs to the company of the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who is a member of the top military and political leadership of the Kremlin," according to the Security Service.
“According to operational information, representatives of the aggressor country tried to smuggle the hidden raw materials into the territory of Russia by sea.
The minerals should then be forwarded to the Russian metallurgical industry and military-industrial complex to meet the needs of the occupying Russian forces."
writes the Security Service of Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian version, the transfer of these uncovered Usmanov assets to Ukraine is currently under investigation, as they stem from “corruption and other crimes”.
Usmanov's concern owns the second largest reserve of iron ore in the world
The fact is that the Russian-Uzbek oligarch owns a majority stake in the Metalloinvest concern.
The company has steel mills near Belgorod and in Orenburg Oblast in the Urals.
Usmanov's company Metalloinvest is Russia's largest iron ore producer and second in reserves in the world.
In a statement to the newspaper this summer, Usmanov wrote: "I am a shareholder in several large companies employing tens of thousands of people.
They are also leaders in metallurgy.”
