Key facts
- The U.K. sanctioned Dutch national Alexander Tattersall and his Turkish company Redwing Metal on Oct. 8.
- Redwing Metal allegedly shipped EU-made industrial machinery to Russian metallurgical plants supplying the country's defense industry.
- The shipments included CNC lathes, metal heat-treatment furnaces, and hydraulic presses.
- The Russian plants AMR and SMK have supplied over 40 Russian defense manufacturers since the start of the full-scale war.
- Redwing Metal also shipped EU-made shipbuilding equipment for two Russian Navy ships under construction.
- Tattersall owns 40% of Redwing Metal; the remaining stake is held by Veysel Cengiz Soylemezoglu.
The U.K. has imposed sanctions on Alexander Tattersall, a Dutch national, and Redwing Metal, a Turkish company he co-owns, for allegedly facilitating the shipment of European Union-made industrial machinery to Russian metallurgical plants that supply the country's defense industry. The sanctions were announced on October 8 as part of a broader package targeting Russian entities, including oil companies, shadow fleet tankers, and crypto exchanges.
The Kyiv Independent, in collaboration with Italy's IrpiMedia and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), revealed that Redwing Metal shipped approximately $5 million worth of European equipment between 2023 and 2024 to two Russian metallurgical plants: Aluminum Metallurg Rus (AMR) and Stupino Metallurgical Company (SMK). These shipments included equipment such as CNC lathes, metal heat-treatment furnaces, and hydraulic presses, which are subject to EU export controls barring their sale to Russia.
Customs data also indicated that Redwing Metal supplied $1.3 million in EU-made shipbuilding equipment, including anchors and ventilation fans, to another company within Nikolay Timokhin's business group, SMS (formerly SMK-Snab), for installation on two Russian Navy ships under construction. Timokhin controls both AMR and SMK.
Tattersall, who resides in Switzerland, owns 40% of Redwing Metal. He previously managed a network of trading companies for AMR in Western markets. When approached by the Kyiv Independent, Tattersall confirmed his co-ownership of Redwing Metal but described himself as a part-time consultant with limited operational knowledge, stating he was unaware of any schemes to ship sanctioned goods to Russia.
While the EU sanctioned AMR in July, SMK and SMS have not yet been sanctioned by the bloc, nor has Timokhin. Sanctions experts suggest that routing banned EU equipment through Turkey constitutes circumvention of EU sanctions, potentially exposing individuals and entities to financial penalties and criminal charges. Roman Steblivskyi, director of policy and advocacy at the Economic Security Council of Ukraine, noted that the U.K. sanctions would likely deter EU companies and banks from engaging with Redwing Metal due to the associated risks.