The Melnichenkos filed two motions in the Federal Court of Canada in late March to overturn a decision imposing sanctions on them related to the war in Ukraine.
Court documents obtained by The Canadian Press show the couple have been fighting to be placed on Canada’s list of designated persons under Russia’s sanctions regime since October 2022.
In February, Justin Trudeau’s government announced changes to the Special Economic Measures Law (Russia), including adding the Melnichenkos to a list of 122 people linked to the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The couple allege that the Canadian government failed to provide them with evidence to support their inclusion in the Sanctioned Persons Document.
The list includes Russian elites and policymakers believed to be involved in activities that facilitate, support, finance or contribute to any violation or attempted violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty or territorial integrity.
Mr. Melnichenko has and had no connection with the government of Russia or President Putin, Andrei Melnichenko’s petition said. He left Russia 20 years ago and has been living in Switzerland for 13 years. The minister has no reasonable reason to assume otherwise, the court document said.
The Russian Embassy in Ottawa
Photo: The Canadian Press/Justin Tang
His wife, a former Serbian model and pop singer, claims she has been unfairly targeted by Canadian sanctions because she has no connection with Russia and does not participate in the companies her husband started.
The couple’s Canadian attorneys, Scott Hutchison and Eleni Loutas of Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP in Toronto, declined to comment on the case.
Andrey Melnichenko’s PR director, Alexander Byrikhin, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
In an email, Global Affairs Canada said it could not share information about people or entities listed under the special economic measures. [Russie] comment on individual cases.
In response to Russia’s illegal and unjustified incursion into Ukraine, Canada has imposed tough sanctions on the Russian regime and those who support it, the statement said.
“No ties to Russia”
Aleksandra Melnichenko states in her application that she is a European citizen with no connection to Russia. She denies any interest in two companies founded by her husband, fertilizer company EuroChem and SUEK, a coal company, both owned by a trust managed in the European Union (EU).
She is only a beneficiary of the discretionary trust administered by the independent trustee, the document said.
In June 2022, EuroChem issued a declaration of ownership and control after Andrey Melnichenko reportedly passed ownership of the company to his wife shortly before he was sanctioned by the EU.
EuroChem Group AG is unsanctioned, has never been sanctioned and is free to pursue its important mission of providing high quality plant nutrients to global markets, the company said in a statement.
EuroChem is majority owned and controlled by European trustees of a trust whose beneficiary, Aleksandra Melnichenko, has no controlling interest or influence in EuroChem. Therefore, EuroChem is not controlled by any sanctioned person, the company adds.
Aleksandra Melnichenko argues that their erroneous inclusion on sanctions lists in the EU, Switzerland and Canada has disrupted the operations of companies around the world and exacerbated the ongoing food and energy crises.
For his part, Andrey Melnichenko claims he was falsely portrayed as a corporate control oligarch who caused production disruptions at plants in Europe following EU sanctions.
His court filing warns of similar unintended consequences in Canada, where Russia’s sanctions list now includes more than 1,300 people.
He claims he’s not an oligarch but a businessman who, according to a Forbes report on his net worth, started from scratch.
Melnichenko is ranked 58th on the Forbes list of billionaires with a net worth of over $25 billion, which he amassed with a chain of bureaux de change in the early 1990s before founding MDM Bank, then EuroChem and SUEK.