Industrialist has share in Austrian tunneller Strabag 

The Russian oligarch who owns a stake in one of the firms building HS2 has been sanctioned today by the government because of his links to Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.

Oleg Deripaska is among seven of Russia’s wealthiest and most influential oligarchs, including Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, who have been hit with sanctions by the UK.

Last week Building revealed Austrian civil engineer Strabag, part of the SCS joint venture which also includes Costain and Skanska, is 28% owned by Rasperia Trading Ltd, a business itself owned by Deripaska.

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Source: Shutterstock

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska pictured in December 2007 at an event for his Basic Element industrial group and Strabag in Kyiv. Deripaska has owned a stake in the business since it floated on the Vienna stock exchange in October 2007

This morning the government added his name to those oligarchs who have had their UK assets frozen.

In the list, Deripaska is described as “a prominent Russian businessman and pro-Kremlin oligarch. Deripaska is closely associated with the Government of Russia and Vladimir Putin. Therefore, Deripaska is associated with persons who are involved in destabilising and threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

Deripaska owns 45% of London-listed mining company En+ Group, which had its shares suspended last week.

Yesterday, Costain boss Alex Vaughan said Strabag remained part of the SCS consortium which is carrying out £2bn worth of tunnelling contracts near London.

He told Building: “Strabag is still part of the consortium, there are no plans at the moment to stand them down. HS2 are working with us on it. We’ve not been asked to take any action at this stage.”

Both Strabag, which had a turnover of £12.2bn and a pre-tax profit of £507m in 2020, and HS2 have been contacted for comment.

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