Italian Danieli Group Continues Cooperation with Russian Metal Industries
19 December, 2023 Employees of Danieli, Italy's largest manufacturer of steelmaking equipment, at the opening ceremony of the new mill at the Mechel steel plant in Chelyabinsk, Russia, Tuesday, July 16, 2013 The Italian company Danieli Group continues to cooperate with Russian metal companies that supply their products to the Russian military industry. Follow The Money and Kyiv Independent reported on this.
The Italian Danieli Group is a global player in the construction and modernization of steel plants, including in Russia and Ukraine. Interestingly, it also used to cooperate with Soviet metal companies. In 2014, the Italian company launched a subsidiary in Russia, Danieli Volga, making it one of the key players in the Russian steel industry.
According to Antonello Colussi, CEO of Danieli Volga, the company won 90 percent of the tenders for the construction of steel plants in Russia in 2019.
Illustrative photo of Danieli Volga. Photo from open sources
After the outbreak of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, Danieli began to hide its ties with Russia. For example, last year, the list of clients disappeared from the Danieli Volga website.
Danieli's clients reportedly manufacture weapons that are widely used in warfare. Among the partners' products are VOG-25 grenades (Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works) and steel for Kalashnikov machine guns (Severstal). Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) and Severstal are also involved in the production of Kalibr missiles.
In June 2022, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense convicted Danieli of collaborating with Russia. According to trade data from the ImportGenius database, two months later, Danieli Corus, a Dutch subsidiary of Danieli, sent a cooling element for a blast furnace to Severstal, a Russian company. At that time, Severstal's owner, Alexei Mordashov, was already subject to EU sanctions.
Illustrative photo of Severstal products.
Photo from open sources
The journalists learned that in March 2022, Danieli Corus representatives asked BenninkAmar lawyers whether they could send goods to Severstal if Mordashov had officially left the company. The company was advised to consult with the Dutch authorities. The company claims that it contacted the Dutch Foreign Ministry at the end of July 2022, but received no response in two weeks and sent the products to Russia.
Among the companies with which Danieli Group allegedly continued to work after the outbreak of a full-scale war is the Krasny Oktyabr steel plant, whose owner is under U.S. and EU sanctions. It is known that Krasny Oktyabr produces metal products used in the manufacture of tanks.
Illustrative photo of a Danieli machine tool. Photo from open sources
In September 2022, Ukraine labeled Daniels Group an "international sponsor of war." Six months later, in March 2023, the company responded to the accusations, calling them "groundless and false."
A month later, Danieli announced that it was leaving Russia, but since then, the company has not fulfilled its promise.
The company also failed to explain why it first announced that it would withdraw from Russia only in April 2023, while its main Russian customers were sanctioned in February-March 2022.