Kadyrov Allies Are Looting Mariupol’s Steel Plant, Shipping Metals and Equipment to Russia

Associates of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, are removing equipment, metal, and by-products from the Illich Metallurgical Plant in occupied Mariupol, Ukraine.

This was reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing managers and documents they have access to.

The Illich Iron and Steel Works giant, unlike the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, largely survived Russia’s bombardment but is now being scavenged and fenced off by powerful Kremlin allies

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, the taxes generated by the Illich and Azovstal plants accounted for over one-third of Mariupol’s annual budget. 

The entrance to the Ilyich steelworks is now adorned with a portrait of Ramzan Kadyrov and the logo of his Chechen militia, as seen in a photograph reviewed by WSJ.

In March, Russian-backed authorities reported that 130,000 tons of iron byproducts, potentially worth $16 million, had been shipped from the Ilyich plant over the previous six months. 

Metinvest, the plant’s former owner, stated that Russian-appointed authorities had also dismantled a production line valued at $220 million, which had been installed just before the war, and transported it to Russia.

Mariupol’s exiled mayor, Vadym Boychenko, stated in an interview that products from the Illich plant are being repurposed for truck and car manufacturing in Russia or utilized by the construction industry. A Moscow-based trader purchased steel cargoes worth $380,000 in September 2022, according to customs data from 52wmb. 

Other Russian companies have seized containers and coal left at the plant, the records show. In January 2023, a shipment of metals valued at $50,000 was exported from the plant to Uzbekistan, according to the same database.

The Ukrainian city of Mariupol endured a brutal siege at the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Encircled by Russian forces, the city’s remaining civilians and defenders held out for two harrowing months. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Ukrainian forces were ultimately forced to retreat to the Azovstal steel plant, the city’s largest industrial complex.