SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) – Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto announced Thursday it would sever all business ties with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
The company said in a statement that it “is in the process of terminating all commercial relationships it has with any Russian business”.
No timeline has been announced for the severance, which may be a complex disentanglement given the miner’s ties with Russia.
In Australia, Rio Tinto co-owns one of the world’s largest alumina refineries — Queensland Alumina Ltd — with aluminium giant Rusal, which controls a 20 percent stake of the company.
Rusal, which was founded by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, weathered sanctions from the United States in 2018 — which were lifted the following year — but the company has since avoided any additional penalties during the recent wave of sanctions sparked by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Deripaska, who still owns a stake in Rusal through its parent company, remains under US sanctions, although he has spoken out about the Ukraine war saying “peace is very important,” according to The Guardian.
Rio Tinto’s announcement follows an exodus of corporations from Russia, from retailers, including H&M and Apple, and major commodities companies BP, Shell and Equinor.
© Agence France-Presse
