The corporation of Russiaʼs richest oligarch, according to Forbes Volodymyr Lisin systematically cooperates with defense enterprises of the Russian Federation and is even involved in the production of nuclear weapons, but neither the corporation nor Lisin has yet been sanctioned by the USA, the EU, and Ukraine.
This is stated in the investigation of the "Schemes" project.
We are talking about the metallurgical group "Novolipetsk metallurgical plant" (NLMK), which is engaged in the extraction of raw materials and the production of steel products. The main company of the group in Russia is PJSC “NLMK”. Lisin is its chairman of the board of directors, and his Cypriot Fletcher Group Holdings Limited owns 79% of NLMK shares.
The journalists analyzed data on public procurement of the Russian Federation and came to the conclusion that NLMK began working with the defense complex most fruitfully in 2014. The corporation supplied steel and products to the "Elektromashina Scientific and Production Association" (manufactures the “Okhotnik” combat module), "Mary Machine-Building Plant" (develops anti-aircraft systems), as well as to enterprises involved in the manufacture of nuclear weapons — this is the "Russian Federal Nuclear Center — All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics named after Academician Zababakhin" and Production Association “North”.
Journalists note that NLMK has subsidiaries in Europe and the USA, as well as enterprises in Denmark, Belgium, Italy and France. At the same time, as the German Wirtschaftswoche writes, all these enterprises help to circumvent the ban on the import of Russian steel into the EU.
Lisin himself owns real estate in the EU and quietly travels around the world. He has two villas on the French Riviera (in the municipality of Villefranche-sur-Mer). They are located in the neighborhood and have access to the sea, and are registered to two French companies — SCI GAILLARDIA (owners Lisin and his son Yuriy) and SCI BALEARA (owners wife and son).
The journalists also remind that in September they released an investigation into the fact that Russian tankers bypass the ban on entering EU ports and transship oil at sea onto vessels flying the flags of EU countries. 13 tankers involved in the scheme turned out to be the property of Lisin.
Only Australia introduced personal sanctions against the oligarch. This happened after the demands of the Ukrainian Shooting Federation, which in April demanded the dismissal of Lisin from the position of the head of the International Federation (ISSF) due to the cooperation of his corporation with defense companies of the Russian Federation. The Australian government advocated Lisinʼs release and imposed sanctions.
Referral of "Schemes"
The journalists asked for an explanation to the authorized bodies of the EU, Great Britain, the USA and Ukraine.
The NSDC replied to them that they did not introduce sanctions against Lisin because they did not receive proposals from the authorized bodies. The British government and the European Commission responded that they do not comment on the creation of sanctions lists. The U.S. had not responded at the time of publication.