Chemicals factories founded or owned by some of Russia’s wealthiest men are supplying ingredients to plants that manufacture explosives used by Moscow’s military during the war in Ukraine, an analysis of railway and financial data shows.
Reuters identified five chemical companies, in which five Western-sanctioned billionaires hold stakes, that provided more than 75% of the key chemicals shipped by rail to some of Russia’s largest explosives factories from the start of the war until September this year, according to the railway data.
The analysis demonstrates for the first time how heavily factories forming part of Russia’s war machine rely on these men and their companies. The billionaires include Roman Abramovich, former owner of Chelsea Football Club, and Vagit Alekperov, who was ranked by Forbes in April as Russia’s richest man with a fortune estimated at $28.6 billion.
