Deripaska’s companies ask Kremlin for help after falling under US sanctions
The Ministry of Energy of Russia received a formal request for government support from En+ Group and Rusal who have fallen under US sanctions, TASS reported, citing Deputy Minister Vyacheslav Kravchenko.
"They have sent us support measures that they require. There are quite a few of them, we are working with them," he said, without specifying which measures the companies are asking for or when they would be enacted. "Rusal made a large number of proposals. There are a lot of them. We are working with them," Kravchenko said. He did not comment on the possibility of exempting the company from payments under the power supply agreement, stressing that "it's all hard to implement."
On April 6, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against several Russian companies, officials and businessmen, including Oleg Deripaska and his companies, Rusal and En+ Group. Aluminum trading of his companies on Western exchanges was suspended and traders began refusing to purchase metal from Rusal. The company's shares price plummeted but later began to recover.
On April 20, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that the state would not offer nationalization to the companies under the sanctions. "There is no way we would offer it ourselves," Dvorkovich said, stressing that the government can consider this possibility only if the company owners ask for it themselves.
On April 24, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Denis Manturov said that he believes the sale of a stake in Rusal to the state is possible, although "there were no substantive discussions on this matter." The next day, on April 25, he noted that he did not rule out the possibility of buying aluminum from Rusal.