The European Union did not impose sanctions on Vladimir Lisin – Russia’s richest billionaire according to Forbes-2022 – due to the position of several member countries, EUobserver wrote, citing its own diplomatic sources.
In particular, Belgium opposed sanctions against Lisin, according to EUobserver. In this country, there are two plants of NLMK, a steel company that Lisin heads and controls (he is the beneficiary of Fletcher Group Holdings, which owns 79.3% of NLMK). These factories employ about 1,200 people, EUobserver noted. A spokesman for Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre De Cros confirmed that he acknowledged on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference that Lisin provides a significant number of jobs in Belgium – and in regions where they are already lacking. De Cros noted that Belgium is committed to implementing EU sanctions as soon as possible and no later than the agreed “wind-down period”, a spokesman for the premier confirmed. We are talking about the effect of exceptions on the import of certain types of Russian steel until October 2024, EUobserver explained.
NLMK also has enterprises in Denmark, France and Italy, as well as in the United States, follows from the information on the company’s website. The Belgian mission to the EU said it could not comment on the topic because internal negotiations on sanctions are “highly confidential”. The Danish mission said it could neither confirm nor deny that it had ever blocked EU action against Lisin together with Belgium. France and Italy declined to comment.
Belgium has also previously opposed EU sanctions on Russian diamonds due to the high volume of trade in them in Antwerp. The restrictions would result in the loss of about 10,000 jobs in this city, according to EUobserver. De Cros said that Brussels is working with partners on how to cut off access to Western markets for Russian diamonds.
Now Lisin is under the sanctions of only one Western country – Australia. Representatives of NLMK in a statement to EUobserver stressed that the company has never been engaged in the supply of military products. “NLMK’s Russian enterprises are not capable of producing military steel,” the company’s press service emphasized. The publication did not cite Lisin’s comments.
In the spring of 2022, Vladimir Lisin topped the list of the richest Russians according to Forbes: his fortune was estimated at $18.4 billion. Now he ranks third in the Forbes Real-Time ranking, which is updated in real time depending on quotes. As of March 3, Lisin’s fortune is estimated at $24.2 billion.
NLMK shares during trading on March 3 rose in price by 0.6%, to 126.88 rubles (as of 14:25 Moscow time), follows from the data of the Moscow Exchange.