UPDATE 1-Russia's USM threatens legal action over confiscation of its iron ore in Ukraine

Russia's USM said on Friday it will take legal action against any party seeking to buy iron ore expropriated from the conglomerate by Ukrainian authorities. It rejected a ruling by Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) on Sept.

Russia's USM said on Friday it will take legal action against any party seeking to buy iron ore expropriated from the conglomerate by Ukrainian authorities.

It rejected a ruling by Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) on Sept. 25 that upheld Ukraine's decision to confiscate the iron ore assets. "The holding's companies reserve the right to take legal action against buyers who may purchase unlawfully expropriated products directly from Ukrainian authorities or from third parties," USM said.

"We will make every effort to ensure that international courts make an appropriate assessment of the unlawful actions of Ukraine's executive and judicial authorities," USM's statement added. Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov used to control USM but has gradually reduced his share to below 50%.

Ukrainian authorities confirmed in December 2022 the seizure of around 160,000 metric tons of iron ore, belonging to USM's metals trading arm Swiss-registered Metalloinvest Trading AG, nine months after Russia sent thousands of its troops into Ukraine. Ukraine's security service, the SBU, said the ore was of Ukrainian origin and was kept in illegal storage in the country's ports and was destined for Russia.

Its Economic Security Bureau said that Metalloinvest was trying to ship the ore to Ukrainian-based firms to evade paying Ukrainian value-added tax. Ukraine's Deputy Justice Minister Inna Bogatykh wrote on Facebook on Thursday that HACC on Sept. 25 granted the Ministry of Justice's claim against Usmanov and his business partners, deciding to confiscate their assets in favour of the state.

Bogatykh valued the ore at 2 billion Ukraine hryvnias ($48.58 million). The court also ruled to confiscate an IT company Peter-Service Ukraine, which used to be part of USM's mobile arm MegaFon. USM denied all the allegations by Ukrainian authorities, saying that up until February 2022, Metalloinvest Trading AG purchased iron ore products from Russian producers and exported them to markets in other countries via Ukraine.

"The Court's decision is a flagrant example of the unlawful and unfounded "legalization" of the appropriation of private property, which had earlier been blocked and illegally held by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies in typical pirate fashion for a period of more than two years," USM said in its statement. ($1 = 41.1706 hryvnias)

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