The President of Fertilizers Europe has suspended the membership of EuroChem Group AG as of March 23, 2022, the Brussels-based European fertilizer manufacturers’ organization said in a March 24 statement.
Fertilizers Europe said it will call an Extraordinary General Assembly towards the end of April to take a formal decision on EuroChem’s membership.
The fertilizer manufacturers’ organization said during the suspension EuroChem staff will not be involved in any activities, internal or external, conducted by the association.
“Following [European Union] sanctions against Andrey Melnichenko, the former chief beneficiary of the EuroChem Group, and Vladimir Rashevskiy, former EuroChem CEO, it must be assumed that this also extends to EuroChem Group. These sanctions may also have consequences for Fertilizers Europe in relation to providing services and benefits for EuroChem Group,” Bloomberg reported, citing Fertilizers Europe.
EuroChem Group is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, but until March 9 it was 90 percent controlled by Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko via Cyprus-based AIM Capital SE. He and former EuroChem CEO Vladimir Rashevskiy came under sanction by the European Union (E.U.) in its expanded list of sanctioned Russian individuals, announced on March 9 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Melnichenko resigned from the EuroChem Board on March 9 and withdrew as a main beneficiary of the group after being sanctioned by the E.U. (GM March 11, p. 1). Rashevskiy last week resigned as CEO, effective March 15, 2022 (GM March 18, p. 32). He also resigned as a member of the Board of Directors, effective March 15, 2022.