Viktor Rashnikov: The Owner of MMK and the Sanctions Against Him

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Photo: Petar Milošević, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sanctions status — checked 4 August 2026

Listed by: US (OFAC SDN) · UK (OFSI) · EU

This person appears on the sanctions lists named above. Date of birth used for identification: 1948-10-13. Checked against the OFAC SDN list, the UK OFSI consolidated list and the EU consolidated list. Sanctions lists change without notice — verify against the primary source before relying on this.

Current figure: Forbes puts Viktor Rashnikov’s net worth at $9.3 billion as of 8 August 2026 (Forbes profile). Older figures further down this page date from 2022 and are kept only where they are explicitly tied to a year. Estimates are revised continuously and Forbes and Bloomberg frequently disagree.

Viktor Rashnikov is the majority owner and board chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), one of Russia’s largest steelmakers. He joined the plant as a repair-shop fitter in 1967, became its general director in 1997 and has chaired its board of directors since 2005. In 2022 he was sanctioned by the United Kingdom, the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and the United States. His challenges to the EU and Swiss listings have failed.

  • Born: 13 October 1948 in Magnitogorsk (Forbes Russia, UK sanctions list)
  • Education: Magnitogorsk Mining and Metallurgical Institute, 1974; Doctor of Technical Sciences
  • Known for: majority owner and chairman of the board of directors of MMK
  • Sanctions as of October 2026: United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland (since March 2022), Australia (since April 2022), Canada (since May 2022), United States (since August 2022)

Career at MMK

Rashnikov graduated from the Magnitogorsk Mining and Metallurgical Institute in 1974 (Forbes Russia, Forbes). He holds a doctorate in technical sciences and is an honorary professor of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (Magnitogorsky Metall). He started at the Magnitogorsk steelworks in 1967 as a fitter in a repair shop for metallurgical equipment (Magnitogorsky Metall, Forbes). In 1991 he became chief engineer and first deputy general director. On 2 August 1997 the shareholders elected him general director (Magnitogorsky Metall). In April 2005 he became chairman of the board of directors (Magnitogorsky Metall, Lenta.ru). According to Forbes Russia, he withdrew from day-to-day management in 2011 (Forbes Russia).

Rashnikov holds 79.76 percent of MMK through the Russian company Altair (Interfax, 2022, Forbes Russia, 2026). Until early 2022 the shares were held by a company registered in Cyprus. Forbes dates the transfer to Altair to February 2022, The Moscow Times to the beginning of March (Forbes, The Moscow Times). MMK went public in 2007 (Forbes Russia). Its global depositary receipts were delisted from the London Stock Exchange on 27 June 2022 after the Russian government refused to let them keep trading abroad (Interfax, Interfax). In June 2026 the news agency Prime still described him as the board chairman and main beneficiary of MMK (Prime). His daughter Olga Rashnikova left the MMK board in March 2022 (Interfax, Forbes).

Politics and awards

Rashnikov was first elected to the legislative assembly of the Chelyabinsk region in 1994 and was re-elected several times, for the fifth time in 2010 (Lenta.ru, Forbes Russia). In 2003 and 2007 he was elected to the State Duma on the United Russia list but declined the seat both times (Forbes Russia, Lenta.ru). In the presidential election of 2000 he was one of Vladimir Putin’s registered campaign representatives (Forbes Russia, Lenta.ru). He is president of the ice hockey club Metallurg Magnitogorsk. MMK’s newspaper dates this to 1993, Forbes Russia to 1999 (Magnitogorsky Metall, Forbes Russia).

In November 2022 Putin awarded him the title Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation (The Moscow Times, Forbes). At the ceremony in the Kremlin on 20 December 2022 Putin said that Rashnikov had “dedicated more than half a century to the legendary Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works” (Kremlin).

Sanctions and court challenges

CountryListedStatus in October 2026
United Kingdom15 March 2022Listed (UK sanctions list, RUS1028)
European Union15 March 2022Listed (Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/429); court challenge dismissed
Switzerland16 March 2022Listed (SECO); appeal dismissed
Australia7 April 2022Listed (Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (No. 11) Instrument 2022)
Canada3 May 2022Listed (Canada’s consolidated autonomous sanctions list)
United States2 August 2022Listed (OFAC SDN list); MMK also listed

The European Union listed Rashnikov on 15 March 2022. It called him a leading businessperson in economic sectors that provide a substantial source of revenue to the Russian government, noting that MMK is one of Russia’s largest taxpayers (Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/429). The United Kingdom listed him on the same day for owning and directing a company in sectors of strategic significance to the Russian government, namely the extractives and transport sectors (UK sanctions list). Switzerland added him to its list on 16 March 2022 (Swiss Federal Administrative Court, RSI). Australia listed him in April 2022 (Australian Government) and Canada on 3 May 2022.

On 2 August 2022 the US Treasury designated both Rashnikov and MMK “for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy” (US Treasury, OFAC). The United Kingdom listed MMK itself on 18 May 2023 (UK sanctions list).

Rashnikov challenged his listings in court. The EU General Court dismissed his action on 13 September 2023 (General Court, case T-305/22, The Moscow Times), and on 26 March 2026 the EU Court of Justice rejected his appeal (Deutsche Welle via SOVA, RAPSI). In Switzerland the Federal Administrative Court dismissed his appeal against the refusal to remove him from the list on 18 March 2025. The court’s database records that the Federal Supreme Court confirmed this decision on 13 May 2026. The administrative court noted that the sanctions are not of a criminal nature (Swiss Federal Administrative Court, B-4084/2023).

We checked the US, UK, Canadian and Polish lists on 7 October 2026, the Swiss list of 5 October 2026 and the EU list as of 22 September 2026. Poland does not list him, and we found no Ukrainian sanctions decision against him. We found no record of a criminal investigation against Rashnikov.

About this profile

This profile was rewritten in October 2026. The 2022 version contained a list of other businessmen, including a statement about a money-laundering investigation that concerned one of them, not Rashnikov. It also claimed that his father died in a mining accident and described an art collection, a “Rashnikov Foundation”, a role in building an airport in Sochi and a “Person of the Year” title from Putin, for which we found no source, and it called MMK a company listed in London, which it no longer is. These statements have been removed. Forbes says that ownership of the yacht that the old version attributed to him is unclear. Sources differ on his date of birth (13 or 3 October 1948). The net worth figure in the box at the top of this page comes from Forbes and carries its date.

Sources

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