Russian oligarch whose factories continue to operate in Europe supplies steel to Russia's military-industrial complex, investigation finds

An investigation by Ukrainska Pravda (UP) has revealed that since the beginning of the full-scale aggression, the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant has been supplying products to Russian defense companies that produce missiles, air defense systems, drones and other weapons. The owner of the NLMK group, Russian oligarch Vladimir Lisin, has not been sanctioned yet. His plants continue to operate in Belgium, Denmark and Italy. To keep these plants running, the EU continues to import Russian metal, which is also not sanctioned, during the three years of full-scale invasion.

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An indispensable supplier

Ukrainska Pravda, has gained access to classified data from the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant's VAT declaration database. According to the data, the plant has been cooperating with the main Russian defense companies for all three years of the full-scale invasion. The publication says that NLMK is Russia's only producer of electrical steel. This is an essential element in the production of components for ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-aircraft missile systems, drones and other types of weapons. Without such steel, it would be impossible to manufacture power systems for dozens of types of military equipment.

From the beginning of 2022 to the end of 2024, NLMK supplied electrical steel to twenty-two enterprises of Russia's military-industrial complex for a total amount of at least 130 million rubles ($1.5 million). UP journalists have obtained a full list of these companies.

Production of ballistic and cruise missiles:

• JSC Production Association Strela - produces Oniks and Malakhit missiles, which are actively used by the Russian armed forces against Ukraine
• Kaluga-based Instrument-Making Plant Typhoon JSC
• JSC Moscow Machine Building Plant "Avangard" - produces missiles for the S-400 air defense missile systems used by the Russian army to attack ground targets in Ukraine.

Production of UAVs: 

• OJSC Concern KEMZ
• OJSC Kazan Plant Electro Device - participates in the production of the most common Russian reconnaissance drone Orlan-10
• JSC Izumrud

Production of combat aircraft: 

• JSC Ufa Aggregate Production Association
• JSC Omsk Scientific-Research Institute of Instrument Engineering JSC

Production of anti-aircraft missile systems: 

• JSC NPO PRZ
• JSC Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant Kupol
• JSC RATEP
• Lipetsk Mechanical Plant LLC - produces TOR air defense systems

Production of radar and electronic warfare equipment: 

• JSC Ural Production Enterprise Vector
• JSC Vladimir Plant "Elektropribor" 
• JSC Mariyskiy Machine-Building Plant

Nuclear weapons-related enterprises: 

• Zababakhin All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics
• JSC Production Association "Sever"
• JSC Priargunsky Mining and Chemical Production Association
• Siberian Chemical Plant

Production of other types of weapons: 

• JSC Barnaul Cartridge Plant 
• JSC Uralelement 
• JSC Elektromashina

According to Ukrainska Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach, almost all of the 22 companies of the Russian military-industrial complex are under European Union sanctions. After all, almost all of them are being used to kill Ukrainians and occupy the territory of a sovereign state following the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian steel in the heart of Europe 

At the same time, the plants owned by Vladimir Lisin continue to operate in Europe. The NLMK group includes NLMK DanSteel (Denmark), NLMK Verona (Italy) and two plants in Belgium - NLMK La Louvière and NLMK Clabecq. Ukrainska Pravda visited two of the Russian oligarch's Belgian plants and confirmed that they are indeed operating at full capacity.

"It is hard to believe, but 40 minutes from the Brussels headquarters of the European Commission there are two steel plants owned by one of Russia's richest oligarchs. It's hard to believe, but these plants are still in operation today. And it seems quite unbelievable that Vladimir Lisin is simultaneously producing steel here, in the heart of the EU, and there, for the Russian military," says Mykhailo Tkach.

To produce steel in Europe, Lisin uses Russian semi-finished products, slabs. Their supply is still not subject to sanctions. According to Eurostat, NLMK supplied slabs worth more than half a billion euros to Belgium last year alone. Ships loaded with Russian metal regularly arrive in the Belgian port of Ghent from St Petersburg.

Ukrainska Pravda sources have spotted another batch of slabs in the port, waiting to be shipped to production.

But NLMK is not the only Russian company freely shipping its metal to Europe. On the evening of 17 March, Ukrainska Pravda managed to record the arrival and subsequent unloading of the bulk carrier KYALAMI in the Polish port of Gdansk. It had also arrived from St Petersburg, bringing tens of thousands of tonnes of Russian slabs to the EU.

"However, these slabs did not come from Vladimir Lisin's plant, but from the Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Works, owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who is under sanctions. Unlike Lisin, he is under European Union sanctions, but his Russian metal is not. Because the metal that Roman Abramovich and Vladimir Lisin are flooding Europe with has a price below the market price," says Mykhailo Tkach.

In total, according to Eurostat, Russia has shipped more than 9.5 million tonnes of non-sanctioned slabs to the EU in the three years since the invasion began in earnest. In monetary terms, this amounts to at least €5 billion.

"European officials seem to be less interested in the price Ukraine is paying every day for Russia's full-scale invasion. After all, there are no public explanations as to why Vladimir Lisin and his factories are still not under sanctions and why Russian metal is still being shipped from Russia to Europe," says Mykhailo Tkach.

Watch the video of investigation by Mykhailo Tkach: