With a rapidly escalating conflict in Ukraine as a backdrop, SalmonBusiness reported yesterday that Russia’s largest salmon farming company, Russian Aquaculture, has close ties to the Kremlin. The company also owns two smolt plants in Norway, which may be at risk from the introduction of further sanctions against Moscow.
“The Russian aquaculture sector and our shareholders are not affected by any sanctions. Like any company we continually monitor a range of risks that have the potential to impact our business. As of now, it is hard for us to assess all possible scenarios or secondary risks from potential sanctions or counter-sanctions,” said Maria Zhmurko, spokeswoman for Russian Aquaculture, to SalmonBusiness.
Uncertainty
Russian Aquaculture’s share price has crashed during the past month – like many others on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
“As could be expected our stock has been hit by recent increased geopolitical uncertainty, as have all other Russian securities. We hope that as uncertainty eases over time the Russian stock market will recover,” Zhmurko continued.
Independent
“I’d also like to take this opportunity to point out a few factual inaccuracies in your article published today“:
- Gennady Timchenko has not been associated with the company since 2013
- Gleb Frank left the company in full in 2016
- Russian Aquaculture was founded in 1997 – long before the Russian Fishery Company was established
- Maxim Vorobyov is an independent businessman with interests in a number of companies across a number of sectors
- Russian Aquaculture has more than 14,000 shareholders, none of whom have a controlling stake in the company
“While I understand the need for an attention-grabbing headline, to claim Russian Aquaculture has “links to Kremlin” it is highly misleading as regards to our company,” she said.
