Latvia’s Riga Fertilizer Terminal (RFT) has again asked the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FID) for a waver on EU sanctions in order to resume operations, LSM reports. RFT pledged to isolate the company’s majority owner, sanctioned Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, from the company’s management and profits. However, Latvia’s State Security Service (VDD) pointed out that a person could still exert informal influence within a company through intermediaries. Mazepin, founder and key owner of Russian fertiliser group Uralchem, owns 51% of RFT’s shares, while the families of Latvian populist politician Ainars Slesers and his business partner, Andris Skele, own the remaining 49%. Slesers criticised the government for rejecting an earlier US offer to invest in RFT and thus reduce Mazepin’s stake in the company.
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