Steel Markets

US Adds Russia’s Metalloinvest to Sanctions List

Written by Laura Miller

April 14, 2023

Russian mining and steel company Metalloinvest has been added to the US sanctions list.

On April 12, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed the sanctions targeting the vast holdings of one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires, Alisher Usmanov, including Moscow-based Metalloinvest and its parent company USM Holdings.

The measures are meant to further disrupt Russia’s importation of critical technologies used in its war against Ukraine, the Treasury Department said.

“More than one year into Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the effects of our globally coordinated sanctions have forced the Russian Federation to search for alternate routes to finance and fuel its war machine,” the US Department of State said in a statement.

“In coordination with the United Kingdom, we are targeting sanctions evasion network supporting one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires, Alisher Usmanov, who was sanctioned by the US last year. In addition to the Usmanov-linked evasion network we are also targeting USM Holdings, the primary entity through which Usmanov owns and controls the majority of his companies,” the State Department said.

Also added to the sanctions list for being tied to Usmanov and his businesses is Vladimir Yakovlevich Streshinskiy, a member of the board of directors of USM and Metalloinvest.

With proven iron ore reserves of approximately 15.4 billion metric tons, Metalloinvest is Russia’s largest and the world’s second-largest mining company by size of iron ore reserves, according to the company’s website.

Metalloinvest’s steel segment comprises direct-reduced (DRI), billet, and long steel producer OEMK, as well as scrap recycler Ural Scrap. Its mining segment includes Lebedinsky GOK and Mikhailovsky GOK.

Metalloinvest did not immediately respond to SMU’s request for comment.

By Laura Miller, laura@steelmarketupdate.com

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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