• Home
  • Politics
  • Health
  • World
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • More
    • Sports
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
What's Hot

Trump Announces First Post-Tariff Trade Deal

May 8, 2025

100 Funny Father’s Day Quotes for Hilariously Relatable Humor (and Plenty of Love Too)

May 8, 2025

Top 10 Benefits Of Acupuncture

May 8, 2025
Facebook Twitter Instagram
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
Friday, May 9
Patriot Now NewsPatriot Now News
  • Home
  • Politics

    Security video shows brazen sexual assault of California woman by homeless man

    October 24, 2023

    Woman makes disturbing discovery after her boyfriend chases away home intruder who stabbed him

    October 24, 2023

    Poll finds Americans overwhelmingly support Israel’s war on Hamas, but younger Americans defend Hamas

    October 24, 2023

    Off-duty pilot charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after allegedly trying to shut off engines midflight on Alaska Airlines

    October 23, 2023

    Leaked audio of Shelia Jackson Lee abusively cursing staffer

    October 22, 2023
  • Health

    Disparities In Cataract Care Are A Sorry Sight

    October 16, 2023

    Vaccine Stocks—Including Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech And Novavax—Slide Amid Plummeting Demand

    October 16, 2023

    Long-term steroid use should be a last resort

    October 16, 2023

    Rite Aid Files For Bankruptcy With More ‘Underperforming Stores’ To Close

    October 16, 2023

    Who’s Still Dying From Complications Related To Covid-19?

    October 16, 2023
  • World

    New York Democrat Dan Goldman Accuses ‘Conservatives in the South’ of Holding Rallies with ‘Swastikas’

    October 13, 2023

    IDF Ret. Major General Describes Rushing to Save Son, Granddaughter During Hamas Invasion

    October 13, 2023

    Black Lives Matter Group Deletes Tweet Showing Support for Hamas 

    October 13, 2023

    AOC Denounces NYC Rally Cheering Hamas Terrorism: ‘Unacceptable’

    October 13, 2023

    L.A. Prosecutors Call Out Soros-Backed Gascón for Silence on Israel

    October 13, 2023
  • Business

    Trump Announces First Post-Tariff Trade Deal

    May 8, 2025

    Electric Vehicle Sales Nosedive As GOP Takes Buzzsaw To Biden’s Mandate

    May 7, 2025

    Tyson Foods Announces It Will Bend The Knee To Trump Admin’s New Rules

    May 7, 2025

    Federal Reserve Holds Interest Rates Steady Despite Pressure From Trump

    May 7, 2025

    ‘Wait Them Out’: John Kennedy Tells Larry Kudlow One Lie He Suspects China’s Telling US

    May 7, 2025
  • Finance

    Ending China’s De Minimis Exception Brings 3 Benefits for Americans

    April 17, 2025

    The Trump Tariff Shock Should Push Indonesia to Reform Its Economy

    April 17, 2025

    Tariff Talks an Opportunity to Reinvigorate the Japan-US Alliance

    April 17, 2025

    How China’s Companies Are Responding to the US Trade War

    April 16, 2025

    The US Flip-flop Over H20 Chip Restrictions 

    April 16, 2025
  • Tech

    Cruz Confronts Zuckerberg on Pointless Warning for Child Porn Searches

    February 2, 2024

    FTX Abandons Plans to Relaunch Crypto Exchange, Commits to Full Repayment of Customers and Creditors

    February 2, 2024

    Elon Musk Proposes Tesla Reincorporates in Texas After Delaware Judge Voids Pay Package

    February 2, 2024

    Tesla’s Elon Musk Tops Disney’s Bob Iger as Most Overrated Chief Executive

    February 2, 2024

    Mark Zuckerberg’s Wealth Grew $84 Billion in 2023 as Pedophiles Target Children on Facebook, Instagram

    February 2, 2024
  • More
    • Sports
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
Patriot Now NewsPatriot Now News
Home»Finance»New Ukraine Sanctions Target Business Interests of Russian-Uzbek Billionaire Usmanov
Finance

New Ukraine Sanctions Target Business Interests of Russian-Uzbek Billionaire Usmanov

April 13, 2023No Comments5 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
New Ukraine Sanctions Target Business Interests of Russian-Uzbek Billionaire Usmanov
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

Russian-Uzbek businessman and founder of USM Holdings, Alisher Usmanov, points while speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, at the Lebedinsky GOK JSC, in Gubkin, Belgorod Region, Russia, July 14, 2017.

Credit: Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Advertisement

A new raft of U.S. sanctions related to the Russian war in Ukraine take further aim at Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov. Usmanov, whose estimated net worth is around $19.5 billion, was targeted personally with sanctions soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but his businesses largely escaped sanctions until now.

In announcing the new sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department said that “Usmanov has at his disposal a wide network of businesses in financial safe havens and family members through which to conduct financial transactions, enabling him to potentially circumvent sanctions.”

Usmanov reportedly has cushy relations with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Usmanov has been referred to as one of Putin’s “favorite oligarchs.” At the same time, he has close ties to Mirziyoyev. In 2017, Mirziyoyev flew on Usmanov’s private plane to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

On February 28, the EU froze the assets of and imposed travel bans on a list of “oligarchs,” including Usmanov. The United States followed, designating Usmanov personally for sanctions in early March 2022 and putting blocks on his superyacht, Dibar, and his plane, an Airbus A340-300 with the tail-number M-IABU, which it noted “is one of the largest privately owned planes in Russia and was previously leased out for use by Uzbekistan’s president.”

See also  Target removes some LGBTQ merchandise from stores ahead of June Pride month after threats to workers

The U.S., however, authorized “all transactions and unblocking all property of any entity owned 50 percent or more, directly or indirectly, by Usmanov, that does not appear on” the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. At that juncture, while Usmanov was personally subject to sanctions by the U.S. his businesses were not.

Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.

Usmanov has significant interests in the metals and mining, telecommunications, and information technology sectors through USM Holdings, in which he has a 49 percent stake. At the time of the initial sanctions, Metalloinvest — one of USM’s most important companies and a major steel producer — noted that the sanctions would not affect the company. 

Usmanov’s supporters in the Uzbek government reportedly lobbied their European counterparts to lift the sanctions. As the Financial Times reported in November 2022, “Uzbekistan is lobbying the EU to lift sanctions on Alisher Usmanov and his sister as the Uzbek-Russian billionaire struggles to disentangle himself from the fallout of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.” The report stated that Uzbek officials had used recent meetings with EU officials to raise Usmanov’s case. Those efforts did not yield success, however. 

And now new sanctions in the U.S. and U.K. target Usmanov’s businesses directly, including Metalloinvest. On April 12 the U.S. State Department issued a fact sheet under the headline “Further Curbing Russia’s Efforts to Evade Sanctions and Perpetuate its War against Ukraine,” which outlined the new sanctions. They now designate USM Holdings directly, as well as a number of its constituent entities, many of which are based in Russia, like Metalloinvest and Megafon, one of Russia’s largest telecoms, but at least one company based in Uzbekistan. 

See also  With a Temporary Contract Fix, Saquon Barkley and the Giants Get Back to Business
Advertisement

The new sanctions also designate a host of new individuals. Some are executives with ties to Usmanov and his network of business interests, and others are relatives: notably a sister and a step-son. The new sanctions shed light on a standard, but sneaky, practice of transferring business or funds in the names of wives or sisters to escape notice: 

Uzbekistan national Shokhrukh Olimdjonovich Nasirkhodjaev (Nasirkhodjaev) is the CEO of Hamriyah Steel FZC, a United Arab Emirates-based company designated today by the Department of State. OFAC also designated Nasirkhodjaev’s wife, Uzbekistan national Nasiba Erkinovna Narzieva (Nasiba), and Nasiba’s mother, Uzbekistan national Saodat Burxanovna Narzieva (Saodat). Saodat is Usmanov’s sister. 

Usmanov has added Saodat to a number of his bank accounts and has sent her millions of dollars over the years. Saodat has transferred millions of dollars to both Nasirkhodjaev and Nasiba. Saodat has also been sanctioned by the UK.

The November 2022 Financial Times report about Tashkent’s efforts to get Usmanov off the sanctions hook cited a statement from the Uzbek Embassy in Brussels, which called Usmanov one of Uzbekistan’s “most famous citizens” and noted that “[i]t is difficult to identify areas in which Mr Usmanov has not helped his homeland.” While the statement emphasized Uzmanov’s philanthropy, it also ironically underscored the serious risks Uzbekistan perceived in his being targeted for sanctions.

One of the story’s reporters, Marc Filippino, explained in a podcast regarding the report that “Uzbek officials argue the sanctions have restricted the billionaire’s ability to invest some of his fortune in his birth country.” They also put his existing investments there at risk, as the new sanctions illustrate.

See also  Google To Launch Campaign To Target ‘Disinformation’ Ahead Of Munich Security Conference: REPORT

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, a major concern among Central Asian governments has been the potential for secondary sanctions given the region’s deep economic integration with Russia. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, in particular, worry about being accused of aiding Russia in circumventing sanctions and being targeted with secondary sanctions as a result. The Usmanov case is unique in some ways, given his extraordinary wealth and powerful connections in both Uzbekistan and Russia, but at the same time it serves also to illustrate the very interwoven nature of business interests across the former Soviet Union.

Billionaire Business Interests RussianUzbek Sanctions target Ukraine Usmanov
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

Business Experts Sound Alarm On DEI Initiatives In Corporate America

April 22, 2025

Ending China’s De Minimis Exception Brings 3 Benefits for Americans

April 17, 2025

The Trump Tariff Shock Should Push Indonesia to Reform Its Economy

April 17, 2025

Tariff Talks an Opportunity to Reinvigorate the Japan-US Alliance

April 17, 2025
Add A Comment

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Top Posts

‘Truly Alarming’: Jonathan Turley Rips New York Judge For Refusing ‘Easy Solution’ For Trump

March 22, 2024

MERIT Great Skin Instant Glow Serum Review

January 18, 2024

110 Inspirational Father’s Day Quotes and Sayings to Help Celebrate Your Dad

May 6, 2025

What to know about your rights

July 2, 2023
Don't Miss

Trump Announces First Post-Tariff Trade Deal

Business May 8, 2025

President Donald Trump announced Thursday the U.S. has reached a trade agreement with the U.K.,…

100 Funny Father’s Day Quotes for Hilariously Relatable Humor (and Plenty of Love Too)

May 8, 2025

Top 10 Benefits Of Acupuncture

May 8, 2025

Electric Vehicle Sales Nosedive As GOP Takes Buzzsaw To Biden’s Mandate

May 7, 2025
About
About

This is your World, Tech, Health, Entertainment and Sports website. We provide the latest breaking news straight from the News industry.

We're social. Connect with us:

Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
Categories
  • Business (4,110)
  • Entertainment (4,220)
  • Finance (3,202)
  • Health (1,938)
  • Lifestyle (1,626)
  • Politics (3,084)
  • Sports (4,036)
  • Tech (2,006)
  • Uncategorized (4)
  • World (3,944)
Our Picks

NBA Reportedly Lifts Marijuana Ban in Collective Bargaining Agreement

April 6, 2023

How Learning the Skill of Hope Can Change Everything

January 6, 2025

Team finds link between cardiovascular health and disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator cuff tendinitis

June 7, 2023
Popular Posts

Trump Announces First Post-Tariff Trade Deal

May 8, 2025

100 Funny Father’s Day Quotes for Hilariously Relatable Humor (and Plenty of Love Too)

May 8, 2025

Top 10 Benefits Of Acupuncture

May 8, 2025
© 2025 Patriotnownews.com - All rights reserved.
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.