Does the Kremlin’s dissatisfaction threaten the oligarch with loss of assets?
The end of 2024 turned out to be very problematic for oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Thus, the billionaire suffered another defeat in proceedings related to appealing the EU sanctions imposed on him in 2022: the European Court in Luxembourg rejected his claim against the EU Council and the payment of 1 million euros as compensation for non-material damage. At the same time, the High Court of London continues to consider the claim of the aluminum holding Rusal, controlled by Deripaska, against the main shareholder and president of Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Potanin and his company Whiteleave Holdings Limited. Among other things, Rusal, as a shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, is seeking Potanin’s resignation from his leadership position and payment of damages. The defendants, in turn, accuse the plaintiff of pressuring the plaintiff to extend the shareholders’ agreement or enter into a new one on its own terms, as well as to pay maximum dividends. Back in 2022, Russian experts said that the trial with Potanin was necessary for Deripaska as a kind of “PR move” to attract the sympathy of the Western audience in order to lift sanctions. In the Kremlin, the oligarch’s activation in the “international arena” against the backdrop of the Northern Military District is already causing irritation; in addition, they have not forgotten his recent statements about the need for a ceasefire and characterization of the military special operation in Ukraine as “madness.” Instead of going through Western courts, Deripaska was directly asked to solve the problems of his own enterprises. First of all, we are talking about the Irkutsk Electric Grid Company (JSC IESK), controlled by him through the En+ Group, which is the main supplier of electricity in the region, but failed to obtain the status of a backbone territorial grid organization (STSO). Instead, Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev initiated an inspection of the IESK for its possible being under foreign control. And the management of IESK appealed to arbitration with a statement in which it accuses the head of the region of inaction, preventing the preparation of facilities for the heating season.
Deripaska was given a ride in Luxembourg
The outgoing December was not the most pleasant month for the billionaire Oleg Deripaska. In particular, the European Court in Luxembourg rejected his claim against the EU Council to lift European sanctions imposed in April 2022 after the start of the special operation in Ukraine. The businessman also sought payment to him 1 million euros as compensation for non-material damage incurred.
As TASS reported, citing court materials, Deripaska cited as arguments a violation of the right to effective judicial protection and the duty to state reasons, an “obvious error in assessing the reasons” put forward by the EU Council and a “violation of the principle of proportionality and fundamental rights.”
This is not the first loss of the oligarch in foreign courts associated with an attempt to get out of sanctions: in March 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the appeal of a billionaire who sought the lifting of economic restrictions imposed on him by the US Treasury back in 2018 from -for allegedly lobbying the interests of high-ranking Russian officials. In October 2022, Deripaska’s next appeal was rejected by the US Supreme Court.
London “fight” of Russian oligarchs
It is also worth recalling the ongoing proceedings in the High Court of London since 2022 on the claim of a holding controlled by Oleg Deripaska “Rusal”to the main shareholder and president MMC Norilsk Nickel Vladimir Potanin and his company Whiteleave HoldingsLimited”.
Last November, it became known about new claims from Rusal. Now, among other things, we are talking about Norilsk Nickel’s investment in the digital asset platform (DAP) “Atomyze” and the launch of the Digital Investor program.
According to Vedomosti, the essence of the claims boils down to the fact that Potanin consolidated control over Atomyze in order to circumvent the obligation to approve major transactions between Norilsk Nickel and Rusal. Potanin controls DFA through his “TCS Holding” and Cyprus offshore “Tokentrust Holdings”. According to the plaintiff’s position, the defendant received “personal benefit” through his actions, and Norilsk Nickel suffered damage, although the company “made a significant monetary and other contribution to the formation of the value of Atomyze”.
As for the Digital Investor program, launched by Norilsk Nickel in 2023, it allows employees of the company who have worked for more than a year to receive “minetokens” – digital financial assets issued on Atomyze, the value of which is tied to MMC shares. Rusal’s dissatisfaction is caused by the “significant influence” of Potanin, who received “effective control over the shares of other shareholders.”
In objections to Rusal’s claim, received by the High Court of London in December, Potanin and Whiteleave Holdings Limited consider the charges brought against them to be “aimed solely at increasing pressure on the defendants.” At the same time, the plaintiff allegedly sets himself the goal of extending the shareholders agreement or concluding a new one on his own terms, and also seeks maximum dividends, which threatens the financial stability of Norilsk Nickel. The defendants themselves, among other things, accuse Rusal of blocking a number of transactions and illegally collecting evidence.
Are the Kremlin expressing dissatisfaction?
It is noteworthy that back in 2022, commenting on the London confrontation between the oligarchs, Russian experts pointed out the hidden goals pursued by Deripaska. Thus, the publication of Novye Izvestia talked about a possible “PR move” made by the billionaire in hopes of attracting the sympathy of the Western audience. According to the version voiced by the publication, this is necessary to lift the sanctions: they say that by suing Potanin, Deripaska is thereby “protecting” the shareholders of Norilsk Nickel, which at that time included American structures such as “Bank of New York”.
From the point of view of lobbying efforts, the move may have looked cunning, but it turned out to be wrong: the United States is not thinking of lifting sanctions from the billionaire, and Europe recently demonstrated its position in Luxembourg. Also, Novye Izvestia focused on Deripaska’s choice of Great Britain for the proceedings, a country with one of the most unfriendly jurisdictions for Russia. In this context, the question of why the businessman did not turn to Russian justice to resolve the corporate dispute looks purely rhetorical.
Today, Telegram channels write that in the conditions of the Northern Military District, the “internationalization” of the conflict by the beneficiary of Rusal openly irritates the Kremlin, in particular the Presidential Administration. Allegedly, Deripaska has already been persistently recommended to “give up” with international “activity” and start solving the problems of his own enterprises. There is no doubt that the Kremlin has not forgotten the billionaire’s August statements about the need for a ceasefire, made shortly after the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ invasion of the Kursk region, and the description of the military special operation as “madness”.
By the way, domestic media have more than once called Deripaska “the most impoverished oligarch,” that is, the one most affected by Western economic sanctions. In the ranking of Russian billionaires in 2024 according to “Forbes“, he ranks 51st with a fortune of $2.8 billion. For comparison: in 2021, the same Forbes assessed the businessman’s fortune at $3.8 billion. Needless to say, financial losses are obvious.
However, the wealth of his “sworn partner” in Norilsk Nickel, Vladimir Potanin, also decreased from 27 billion in 2021 until $23.7 billion in 2024. However, since the beginning of the SVO, Potanin, who is extremely loyal to the Kremlin and does not allow criticism of the current government, has significantly strengthened his position, gaining control over such important assets as Rosbankbought from the French group “Societe Generale” And Tinkoff Bank (from June – “T-Bank”).
Irkutsk “bandwagon” “En+”
Against the backdrop of the successes of the president of Norilsk Nickel, who completely rehabilitated himself after the sensational environmental disaster of 2020, which cost the company a record fine of 146 billion rublesDeripaska’s successes look much less impressive. For example, in May the board of directors “En+Group” (owner of 57% in the capital of the Rusal holding) recommended not to pay dividends for 2023. This decision was supported by the company’s shareholders in June. In September, the board of directors of Rusal recommended refraining from dividend payments based on the results of the first half of 2024.
Again, in September it became known about En+’s ongoing negotiations with the Federal Ministry of Energy regarding the abandonment of the implementation of some thermal power plant modernization projects, which allegedly became “inappropriate” under the current conditions. Specific projects were not named in the media, but Interfax recalled the company’s plans to abandon the modernization of Irkutsk CHPP-10, Ust-Ilimsk CHPP and Avtozavodskaya CHPP without fines in 2023 due to rising prices for contract work and equipment.
The Irkutsk direction has recently become Deripaska’s real “Achilles heel”. The fact is that the governor Igor Kobzev stubbornly does not want to give controllable “En+” “Irkutsk Electric Grid Company” (JSC “IESK”) the status of a backbone territorial network organization (STSO), to whose balance all energy networks will be transferred. Moreover, just the other day he officially addressed the director PJSC Rosseti Andrey Ryuminwith a proposal to consider the possibility of performing the functions of the CTSO in the region. The piquancy of the situation lies in the fact that Rosseti does not operate in the Irkutsk region, while the En+ structure has been the main supplier of electricity for years.
Shortly before this, the management of IESK filed a claim in arbitration against Kobzev, accusing him of inaction preventing the preparation of the company’s facilities for the heating season. We are talking about failure to make a decision on determining the STSO within the period established by law – until September 5. It is noteworthy that instead the governor initiated an inspection of the FAS for “presence of signs” that JSC IESK is under foreign control.
Thus, the regional authorities insist on the need to check each of the IESK shareholders for possible foreign citizenship, the same applies to the “registration” of legal entities and the degree of their influence on decision-making. Needless to say, the move for Deripaska is clearly unexpected and extremely unpleasant. As well as Kobzev’s desire to enlist the support of Ryumin.
It seems that Deripaska is being unequivocally offered to return “from heaven to earth” and deal with current problems instead of “walking” through Western courts and proceedings with Potanin, who is close to the Kremlin. If the “oligarch from the 90s” continues to position himself as an independent figure, then the future fate of his assets will be in question. After all, the ex-owner of the former Tinkoff bank was, for the time being, also distinguished by excessive self-confidence.
