With these large-scale sanctions affecting Russia's access to funding, companies and businesses with Russian ties operating in Luxembourg would also be affected. Photo: Shutterstock.

With these large-scale sanctions affecting Russia's access to funding, companies and businesses with Russian ties operating in Luxembourg would also be affected. Photo: Shutterstock.

Rosneft and Gazprom are two of the Russian giants present in Luxembourg, as are a dozen or so companies that were confiscated by the authorities due to their owners’ criticism of the government. Such was the case for the “Russian Snowden”, Sergei Saveliev, who was forcefully expelled from the business register.

"We will present a package of massive and targeted sanctions to European leaders for approval. With this package, we will target strategic sectors of the Russian economy, by blocking their access to technologies and markets that are key for Russia. We will weaken Russia's economic base and its capacity to modernise. And, in addition, we will freeze Russian assets in the European Union and stop the access of Russian banks from European financial markets," said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

With these large-scale sanctions affecting Russia's access to funding, companies and businesses with Russian ties operating in Luxembourg would also be impacted.

By Thursday, the CSSF had published a list of sanctions after the EU announced its first package of sanctions the day before.Banks and financial institutions will now have to detect any transactions by these 400 to 500 individuals and entities--mainly the members of the Russian assembly, the Duma, who gave the green light to Russian president Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine.

Rosneft well off from Switzerland

There are 237 companies listed with the Luxembourg commercial register that are Russian-owned directly, to which it should be possible to add more of suspicious origins or containing false information in their registration documents.

But the sanctions did not prevent Gazprom's Luxembourg subsidiary from sending €615m in dividends in 2020--10 times more than the previous year--back to its shareholders as a final settlement before the Luxembourg company was liquidated last year.

Read also

Rosneft’s holding company repaid $1bn to its main shareholder at the end of 2020 as part of a reduction in share capital. In the context of the cessation of Rosneft's activities in Switzerland, the Swiss subsidiary had paid a dividend of $1.4bn to its Luxembourg parent company, plus $808m to the issue account, and $921.7m that it had on its books.

The Luxembourg holding company consolidates 100% of three Dutch companies, Uranium One (€460m dollars in equity), Deanco and UrAsia London.

Russian Space X replaces a Luxembourg project

The European subsidiary of VEB-Leasing, was born out of the Russian state development bank and taken over by Vladimir Putin in 2018 to “focus more on working with Russian cities on financing transport, heating, roads and other projects. The company will also continue its involvement in financing shipbuilding and aviation projects”.

SL Aerospace, will likely suffer the same fate as its Swiss sister company, which has been placed in liquidation since its director, Dmitry Kakhno, returned to the country to develop the 'Russian Space X' with the state company Roscomos. As head of the Russian company RTSS (Reusable Transport Space System), Kakhno had planned to launch the first Russian reusable rocket this year. But that was before the recent tensions on the Ukrainian border escalated into a military offensive by Russia.

The Russian authorities also have a hand in a few companies that they have confiscated from those who are too critical of the regime, like United Group, which until last year belonged to Sergei Saveliev. The "Russian Snowden", released in February, has made public more than 1,000 videos of torture that he recorded during the eight years he spent in prison, after being accused of drug trafficking in 2013.

Even before his release from prison, he had left United Pilsen, the company of another Russian emigrant to the Czech Republic, Denis Kotlyar, in which he was involved with former Fenerbahce football goalkeeper Murat Sahin.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.