Leading Russian metallurgical company Metalloinvest issued a statement after the company’s owner Alisher Usmanov was added to the EU sanctions list on March 1.

Six high-profile Russian oligarchs were included in the last extreme round of sanctions on Russia after the attack on Ukraine on February 24.

Usmanov is one of Russia’s most successful businessmen who became wealthy as a financier and with investments into the metallurgical sector and tech over the last three decades. He has rejected the label of “oligarch” in the past, saying he has never made use of government connections to make his fortune.

The Metalloinvest group issued a statement on March 1 and is controlled by the USM holding company that is partly owned by Usmanov and is one of Russia’s biggest metal producers.

“On 28 February 2022, the European Union imposed restrictive measures against a number of Russian state and public figures and entrepreneurs, including Alisher Usmanov. We consider the sanctions against the founder of Metalloinvest ungrounded and unfair,” the statement emailed to bne IntelliNews said.

“The restrictive measures imposed by the EU against Alisher Usmanov are of a personal character and will not affect Metalloinvest. Mr. Usmanov owns less than 50% of USM Group’s parent company and does not control the Group's enterprises. Thus the inclusion of Alisher Usmanov in the EU sanctions lists does not extend the effect of the relevant sanctions to USM’s companies”, the statement concluded.

Usmanov said in an interview two years ago with the Financial Times that he would be retiring from business and concentrating on philanthropy and his main passion, fencing.