Ivan Glasenberg, the chief executive of mining giant Glencore, has resigned from his position as a director at Russian aluminum firm Rusal following the imposition of targeted U.S. sanctions on the company.
Glencore, the world's largest commodities company saw its share price fall as much as 5 percent Monday thanks to U.S. Treasury sanctions targeting Rusal, among other entities owned by a number of select Russian oligarchs with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Glencore owns an 8.75 percent stake in Rusal — which produces around 6 percent of global aluminum supply — and is the largest buyer of its metal.
Rusal, which is owned by billionaire Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska — a close Putin ally and a target of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's alleged 2016 election meddling — is one of several companies to come under the label of "Specially Designated Nationals" (SDN), along with Deripaska's enormous holding company EN+. This designation freezes a company's U.S. assets and forbids U.S. nationals from doing business with them, while the extra-territorial nature of the Treasury's secondary sanctions also inhibits broader global trade.
"Glencore is committed to complying with all applicable sanctions in its business and is taking all necessary measures in order to mitigate any risks to Glencore's business as a result of the designation of Rusal and EN+ as SDNs, including in respect of secondary sanctions," a statement from Glencore, issued Tuesday, said.
