‘US list is a phone book of the rich’

RUSSIA’S elite on Tuesday shrugged off US publication of a sweeping list of oligarchs close to the Kremlin as simply a “telephone directory” of the rich, though a Kremlin spokesman said it could even harm the image of Russia’s political leaders. One Western businessman said it could create uncertainty in dealings with sectors of Russian business. One Russian energy executive feared for future dealings with foreign banks.

The US Treasury Department named top businessmen including the heads of the two of Russia’s biggest banks, metals magnates and the boss of the state gas monopoly on a list of oligarchs close to Russian power.

The list of 210 people, including 96 oligarchs with wealth of $1 billion or more, was drawn up as part of a sanctions package signed into law in August last year.

The document said inclusion did not mean those named were likely to be sanctioned, although it seemed it would cast the shadow of potential sanctions over a wide circle of wealthy Russians.

“Publication of such a wide list of everything and everyone could potentially damage the image and reputation of our firms, our businessmen, our politicians, and of members of the leadership,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, himself included on the list, told reporters.

Shares in some of the big metals companies, Norilsk Nickel and aluminium giant Rusal, whose owners were named, initally fell, though Russian stock in general recovered later.

President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle is already subject to personal US sanctions imposed over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region. The White House said on Monday it would not immediately impose new sanctions on Russia.

“All this looks more like a book, Who’s Who in Russian Politics. As a member of the government I am obliged to be on this list,” Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, one of 114 government officials named, said.

The 2017 sanctions package leading to the list being drawn up was prompted partly by Washington’s belief that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election. The Kremlin denies these allegations.

The list reached deep into the business elite and government.

Officials and others named said it amounted to little more than a copy of last year’s Forbes list of Russia’s wealthiest people, with some factual mistakes thrown in. Last year’s list in Forbes magazine estimated the total wealth of the oligarchs listed at almost $400 billion.

The list also mentions Oleg Budargin as the chief executive of the state utility company Rosseti, though he was replaced in that post last September.

A Western banker who is currently involved in a deal with a person named on the list said it was unclear what inclusion meant. “If all these people were banned, 80 per cent of deals [with Russian firms] would stall,” he said.

A state energy executive said he believed inclusion could complicate dealings with the foreign banks and raising financing for the companies whose owners were named.

The list was sweeping though some names of people known to be closely associated with Mr Putin were absent.

Some Putin loyalists suggested that being named amounted to a badge of honour, while being left off was cause for suspicion. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who was named, said being left off was “a basis for considering resignation”.

Another US report outlining potential restrictions on investment by foreigners in Russian government debt was not published on Tuesday as many had expected.

Representatives for Vladimir Potanin, co-owner of Norilsk Nickel, and Oleg Deripaska of Rusal who were both named declined comment.

Others including metals magnate Alisher Usmanov, part-owner of London’s Arsenal soccer club, and Alexei Mordashov, co-owner of Severstal, also declined to comment. German Gref, CEO of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, and Andrey Kostin, chief executive of No 2 bank VTB, both of which are state-controlled, were also on the list.

Alexei Miller, CEO of state-controlled gas export monopoly Gazprom, was named, as was Leonid Mikhelson, co-owner of private gas producer Novatek.

Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of the Moscowbased cyber security company that carries his name, was also listed.