In May 2018, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine placed Russian billionaire and “aluminum magnate” Oleg Deripaska, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as three companies related to him (United Company RUSAL and its Moscow- and Cyprus-based branches, Judson Trading Limited and Velbay Holdings Limited) on the Ukrainian sanction list. This list consists of enterprises that “confront Ukraine” and “provide military components and supplies to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” However, new evidence recently emerged that the Russian oligarch still owns nearly a dozen other companies in Ukraine that remain operational and have not been included on the sanctions list (Radio Svoboda, October 17).
The first company is the Cyprus-based United Company RUSAL Silicon Limited, a subsidiary of RUSAL. This firm has an exclusive mining license at the LLC Glukhiv Quarzites (Banitsky) Quarry. The Banitsky deposit, in the Glukhiv district of the Sumy region, is exceptional: it contains unique quartzite consisting of high-quality (99 percent) silicon. According to Kostyantyn Tkachov, a Ukrainian honorary specialist in geological exploration, this deposit has no analogues in Europe and there are few similar deposits anywhere else in the world.