MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Putting Power Machines, Russia’s power engineering company, on the US’ extended sanctions list is illegal and contradicts the regulation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the company said in a statement on Monday.
"The US sanctions against Power Machines are illegal and contrary to the rules of the World Trade Organization, which includes the United States of America and Russia. As to the formal side of the reasons for inclusion in the sanctions list, they are far-fetched and absolutely inconsistent with the reality," the statement said.
The company also denies involvement in the contract between Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies and Technopromexport for gas turbines supplies, which it says means that the grounds for including the company in the US sanctions list are far-fetched.
"Power Machines, as a minority shareholder - a 35% stake, Siemens as a majority shareholder - a 65% stake, are part of the joint venture named Siemens Gas Turbine Technology. All the JV management have been nominated by Siemens, and all decisions, including conclusion of contracts, are made by Siemens representatives," the company said.
"The major turbine components manufactured by JV according to Siemens’ technologies arrive from Germany. The turbines of this joint venture were shipped under the contract to Technopromexport, but later, as it turned out, in violation of the terms of the contract, these units were delivered to Crimea. Power Machines had nothing to do with conclusion of this contract. We also did not know anything about the route for redirecting the supplies of these turbines. In this regard, the joint venture has turned to the Russian court to sue its counterparties for improper shipment of the turbines, as was widely reported in the media," the statement said.
However, the company added, the US authorities filed no claims to Siemens, which owns a 65% stake in Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies, and it was not included on the sanctions list. "This logic does seem strange. Apparently, they believe that it is the Russian company that should be punished even if it has nothing in common with the situation," Power Machines said.
"In this connection we hope that the US state departments will still take a constructive stand, sort out the situation objectively and lift the unfounded sanctions imposed on Power Machines," the company said.
On January 26, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced an extended list of Russian individuals and companies subject to sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. The list includes individuals and companies, allegedly involved in supplies of the Siemens turbines to Crimea - Alexei Mordashov’s company Power Machines, which has been cooperating with Siemens in production of turbines, as well as the Technopromexport engineering company (part of the Rostec State Corporation), which is building two power plants in Crimea. Technopromexport’s Director General Sergei Topor-Gilka, Deputy Energy Minister Andrei Cherezov and Head of the Department of Operational Control and Management in Electric Power Industry at the Russian Energy Ministry Yevgeny Grabchak are among the blacklisted individuals.