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Metalloinvest denies Ukrainian Security Service’s report on iron ore stored in warehouses

"Without any legal basis, the Ukrainian authorities have, in reality, seized iron ore produced by Metalloinvest’s enterprises in Russia, which was intended for its foreign buyers," the company added

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Russia’s biggest iron ore producer Metalloinvest has denied the statement made by the Security Service of Ukraine about ‘Ukrainian iron ore’ stored in underground warehouses, adding that the Ukrainian authorities have seized iron ore produced by Metalloinvest’s enterprises in Russia.

"In February 2022, the Ukrainian authorities blocked the export of these cargoes, which were transiting through Ukraine under existing contracts, in particular to European clients. Therefore, this is in fact a seizure of old commercial cargo intended for foreign buyers, being illegally carried out by the Ukrainian authorities," the Russian company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine made a statement on the arrest of a batch of iron ore worth 2 bln hryvnia (or around $54.35 mln) allegedly owned by Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov.

"Regarding the statement issued by the Security Service of Ukraine about Alisher Usmanov’s companies allegedly storing ‘Ukrainian iron ore’ in ‘underground Russian warehouses’ at Ukrainian seaports and their intention to export it to Russia, we would like to state the following. This information is false, absurd and deliberately misleading to both the company’s partners and the media," the statement reads.

"Without any legal basis, the Ukrainian authorities have, in reality, seized iron ore produced by Metalloinvest’s enterprises in Russia, which was intended for its foreign buyers," the company added.

"The fact that the seizure of the cargo, the location of which has been known to the Ukrainian authorities for almost a year, has only now been officially announced, speaks volumes about the PR objectives of this action," Metalloinvest noted.

Metalloinvest is a leading global producer and supplier of HBI and iron ore products, and a major producer of high-quality steel in Russia and the CIS. USM holding, whose main shareholder is Alisher Usmanov, fully controls Metalloinvest.

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