Vladimir Lisin: NLMK Chairman, Shooting Federation and the Sanctions Against Him

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Sanctions status — checked 18 October 2026

Not found on the OFAC SDN, UK OFSI or EU consolidated lists.

Absence from these three lists does not mean no restrictions apply elsewhere: other countries and earlier listings are covered in the sanctions section below. 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 Vladimir Lisin’s net worth at $25.5 billion as of 18 October 2026 (Forbes profile). Estimates are revised continuously and Forbes and Bloomberg frequently disagree.

Vladimir Lisin is a Russian metallurgical engineer who has chaired the board of the steelmaker NLMK (Novolipetsk Steel) since 1998 and is its main shareholder. He also owns the transport holding Universal Cargo Logistics and was president of the International Shooting Sport Federation from 2018 to 2022. Ukraine, Australia and Canada have sanctioned him; the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Switzerland have not.

  • Born: 7 May 1956 in Ivanovo, Russia (Vedomosti, Canada Gazette)
  • Education: Siberian Metallurgical Institute, graduated 1979 as a metallurgical engineer; doctorates in engineering and economics
  • Known for: chairman of the board and main shareholder of NLMK; owner of Universal Cargo Logistics; president of the International Shooting Sport Federation (2018–2022)
  • Sanctions as of October 2026: Australia (since April 2022), Ukraine (since 19 October 2022), Canada (since 13 June 2025); not listed by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Switzerland or New Zealand

Early career

Lisin was born on 7 May 1956 in Ivanovo (Vedomosti, Lenta.ru). In 1975 he started work as an electrical fitter at the Yuzhkuzbassugol coal mining association. He graduated from the Siberian Metallurgical Institute in 1979 as a metallurgical engineer and then worked at the Tulachermet research and production association until 1985, rising from assistant steelmaker to deputy head of a shop (Vedomosti, Lenta.ru, Forbes). He later earned doctorates in engineering and economics (Vedomosti, ISSF, 30 November 2018).

In the mid-1980s he moved to the Karaganda Metallurgical Combine in Kazakhstan, where by 1991 he was deputy general director. In 1992 he joined the metals traders Trans Commodities and then the Trans World Group, where he became a partner in 1993 (Vedomosti, Forbes). Forbes notes that Trans World Group later tried to challenge his actions in court and lost (Forbes).

NLMK

By 1995 Lisin had acquired about 12 percent of the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Combine (NLMK). He joined its board in 1996 and has chaired it since 1998 (Vedomosti, 400 Famous People of Novokuznetsk). In March 2026 Kommersant still described him as NLMK’s chairman and main owner (Kommersant, 19 March 2026). In 2005 part of NLMK’s shares began trading on the stock exchange; Lisin controlled the company through Fletcher Group Holdings in Cyprus (Vedomosti). In December 2020 Fletcher sold about 2.1 percent of NLMK, reducing its stake from 81.4 to 79.3 percent (Kommersant, 3 December 2020). In June 2023, according to Bloomberg, Lisin moved his NLMK and Freight One stakes from Cyprus to companies registered in Abu Dhabi, which an NLMK representative confirmed (Forbes Russia, citing Bloomberg, 30 June 2023). Vedomosti gives his holding as 79.3 percent; NLMK’s latest annual report does not name him (Vedomosti, profile updated 20 April 2026).

NLMK owns rolling mills in Europe and the United States, among them plants in Belgium, France, Denmark and Italy (NLMK, map of assets). In July 2026 the Moscow Times reported that the mills in Belgium, Italy and Denmark were still processing semi-finished steel slabs imported from Russia; the EU agreed in December 2023 to phase out imports of Russian slabs by 30 September 2028 (The Moscow Times, 28 July 2026, Kyiv Independent, 5 June 2026).

Outside steel, Lisin bought the Sea Port of St Petersburg in 2005, became the main owner of the transport holding Universal Cargo Logistics in 2007 and bought the railway operator Freight One (PGK) in 2011 (Vedomosti). In November 2023 his companies sold Freight One to Avrora Invest, whose owners are not disclosed (Interfax, 2024, Forbes). Forbes says he still owns the port operator Port One (Forbes).

Statement on the war and reports on supplies to the arms industry

On 7 March 2022 Lisin wrote to NLMK’s employees. In the letter, published in full by Novaya Gazeta, he expressed his sympathy to all victims of the armed conflict in Ukraine, wrote that loss of human life is always a great tragedy that cannot be justified, and said that a peaceful, diplomatic solution is always preferable to the use of force. Reuters reported that an NLMK spokesperson confirmed the letter was authentic (Novaya Gazeta, 7 March 2022, Reuters via Business Today, 7 March 2022, Interfax, 7 March 2022). The letter does not mention Putin.

Several investigations have reported business between Lisin’s companies and Russia’s arms industry. In September 2022 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that state contracts showed one of his companies doing business with a state institute involved in developing nuclear weapons; Lisin’s company told RFE/RL that its products could not be used for military purposes (RFE/RL, 30 September 2022). In December 2022 the French investigative outlet Disclose reported that his business empire had supplied steel to several weapons manufacturers (Disclose, 13 December 2022). In April 2025 Ukrainska Pravda reported, based on tax data it had obtained, that NLMK supplied electrical steel worth at least 130 million rubles to 22 enterprises of Russia’s military-industrial complex between 2022 and 2024 (Ukrainska Pravda via Yahoo News, 14 April 2025). We found no criminal investigation against Lisin.

Sport shooting

Lisin was president of the Russian Shooting Union from 2002 to 2020 and led the European Shooting Confederation from 2009. He served on two commissions of the International Olympic Committee, Culture and Olympic Education from 2006 to 2014 and Marketing from 2015, but was not a member of the IOC itself (ISSF, 30 November 2018, Vedomosti). He built one of Europe’s largest shooting complexes, Lisya Nora near Moscow (Forbes). On 30 November 2018 the general assembly of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) elected him president by 148 votes to 144 for Luciano Rossi (ISSF, 30 November 2018). After the invasion of Ukraine he resisted calls to step aside; under him the ISSF suspended shooters from Russia and Belarus in March 2022. On 30 November 2022 Rossi defeated him (Associated Press, 1 December 2022).

Sanctions

CountryListedStatus in October 2026
AustraliaApril 2022Listed (Australian consolidated list)
Ukraine19 October 2022Listed for ten years (Decree 727/2022)
Canada13 June 2025Listed (Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations, item 1524); delisting request pending
United StatesnoNot listed (OFAC SDN list)
United KingdomnoNot listed (UK sanctions list)
European UnionnoNot listed (EU consolidated list)
SwitzerlandnoNot listed (SECO sanctions list)

Australia added Lisin to its sanctions list by an instrument dated 7 April 2022, describing him as “Chairman and majority shareholder of Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK Group)”, and he remains on its consolidated list; Interfax reported the listing at the time, and Disclose and the Kyiv Independent later referred to it (Autonomous Sanctions Amendment (No. 11) Instrument 2022, Australian Sanctions Consolidated List, 7 October 2026, Interfax, 8 April 2022, Disclose, 13 December 2022, Kyiv Independent, 5 June 2026). Ukraine listed him in the sanctions decision of its National Security and Defence Council of 19 October 2022, put into force by Presidential Decree 727/2022; the measures include blocking of assets and run for ten years, and the annex gives no reasons (annex to Decree 727/2022).

Canada added him to its Russia sanctions regulations on 13 June 2025 (Canada Gazette, SOR/2025-142). A second regulation of the same day listed him a second time; Canada removed that duplicate entry on 28 August 2025, stating that the correction did not change the validity of the initial listing (SOR/2025-141, SOR/2025-168). The regulation gives no individual reasons. Lisin applied to Canada’s foreign ministry for removal in July 2025 and, after receiving no decision, asked the Federal Court of Canada on 6 January 2026 to order the minister to decide; as of March 2026 the court had not ruled (Kommersant, 19 March 2026).

The EU has not listed Lisin. In June 2026 a spokesperson for Belgium’s foreign ministry told the Kyiv Independent that “on the proposal to list Mr Lisin individually, Belgium has indeed expressed reservations, and that position has not changed”, arguing that sanctioning him “would have direct and disproportionate consequences for industrial sites and jobs in Belgium” (Kyiv Independent, 5 June 2026). NLMK itself has not been sanctioned by the EU either (The Moscow Times, 28 July 2026), and it is not on the US or UK lists. We checked the US, UK and Canadian lists as of 8 October 2026, the Swiss list as of 5 October 2026, New Zealand’s register and Poland’s national list as of 11 October 2026, Australia’s consolidated list as of 7 October 2026 and the EU list as of its review of 22 September 2026; we found no earlier listing that was later lifted, apart from Canada’s duplicate entry. We could not check Japan’s list.

About this profile

This profile was rewritten in October 2026. The 2022 version said that Lisin is not affected by the war and listed no sanctions. It also claimed that he chairs NLMK only since 2013 and owns 63 percent of it, runs a steel company called Fletcher Russia in Geneva, is a member of the International Olympic Committee and of the Russian Academy of Sciences, received the Order of Friendship from Putin in 2007, a World Economic Forum Global Citizen Award and a place in the World Steel Association Hall of Fame, founded a “Lisin Future Charity Fund”, donated to Skolkovo and the Academy of Sciences, owns a stake in HC Sochi, and has a fleet of luxury cars and a yacht. It also gave wrong names for his children. We found no source for these statements, and they have been removed. 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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