World News: Sanctioned weapons mogul who supplied Russia’s troops has ties to Philip Morris – Gulf Digital News

World News: Sanctioned weapons mogul who supplied Russia’s troops has ties to Philip Morris – Gulf Digital News

A longtime Russian business associate of American tobacco giant Philip Morris International Inc - a billionaire whose holdings have included a major stake in a weapons plant supplying Russia’s military - has been sanctioned in Europe for aiding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a Reuters review of business registries and sanctions lists.

Igor Kesaev, 55, listed by Forbes as Russia’s 35th-richest person last year, was sanctioned April 13 by the United Kingdom and on April 8 by the European Union. The EU noted in its sanctions document that Kesaev’s holdings in tobacco distribution and weapons production are funneling “substantial” revenue to the Russian Federation to fund its “destabilisation of Ukraine.”

Kesaev owned a 49% share in the V.A. Degtyarev plant, located 165 miles northeast of Moscow, which makes machine guns, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons that are sold to the Russian military and countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America, according to Russian business records as of Dec. 31 and the plant’s website. The plant is known for producing Kalashnikov PKM and PKTM machine guns, as well as Kord rifles and machine guns, some of which are mounted on armored vehicles. Kesaev’s interest in the weapons business dates back