Estonia agrees to temporarily exclude Silmet supplier from EU sanctions draft — ERR News
Estonia has agreed to temporarily exclude a Russian supplier of raw materials for the Silmet plant from the draft EU sanctions list. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the decision was made on the recommendation of the European Commission, as the sanctions could have serious consequences for European industry.
As ERR News reports, this concerns the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant, a subsidiary of the Russian state corporation Rosatom. Russia is an aggressor state. According to Tsahkna, Silmet depends on supplies from this plant, while the company provides a significant share of the raw materials needed by European industry.
Conditions for Silmet
Estonia's foreign minister stressed that excluding the supplier from the draft list is not a final decision. Silmet's owners have been given time to end their dependence on Russian raw materials. If Europe creates conditions for a technological transition and Silmet does not make it, this Russian company must be added to the sanctions list.
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Silmet is owned by Neo Group, whose shares are listed on the Canadian stock exchange. Tsahkna noted that Silmet and Neo have been included in the European list of strategic companies, which creates an opportunity to receive EU funding. One of the conditions for such funding must be the abandonment of Russian raw materials.
Dependence on raw materials
According to the minister, changing sources of raw material extraction requires not only finding new suppliers in a competitive market, but also technological changes and investment. He said that one more shipment of raw materials from Russia may still arrive in Estonia, but Neo Group has publicly stated its intention to use available opportunities to end Russian supplies.
Tsahkna said Estonia would continue to support sanctions and advocate for a full trade embargo against Russia. At the same time, he called Europe's dependence on Russian raw materials a broader problem and noted that dependence on China in rare earth elements is even greater.
