Special Report: Sanctioned weapons mogul who supplied Russia’s troops has ties to Philip Morris

FILE PHOTO: Russian billionaire Igor Kesaev delivers a speech during a ceremony to present The Mercury City Tower as Europe's tallest skyscraper in Moscow, November 1, 2012. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo

(Reuters) - 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.”