American paper company maintains lucrative business relationship with Russian government
More than a month after the Russian military began its assault on Ukraine, only a handful of American businesses have fully maintained their operations in Russia. One of those businesses is International Paper Company, which partners with Russian oligarch Zakhar Smushkin in a joint venture, Ilim.
Ilim operates three large pulp and paper mills, two corrugated box plants, and numerous other support offices in Russia. (It recently completed a $2 billion upgrade of two facilities.) Ilim accounts for "75% of all domestically produced market pulp" in Russia and its "total annual pulp and paper output exceeds 3.6 million tons." Its products are exported to more than 70 countries, although most of its output is sent to China.
The board of Ilim consists of four International Paper executives and four Russians, including Smushkin and Boris Zingarevich, who are both billionaires. Smushkin is not among the oligarchs currently subject to U.S. sanctions but "has appeared with Putin at business conferences, including at least one event in 2019."
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