Xavier Rolet has announced his official resignation as Chairman of PhosAgro amid sanctions faced by the company over its ties to the Russian government, City AM reported.
“In light of the announcement regarding the new EU list of Russian citizens, I have tendered my resignation. In this senselessly tragic time, I can only hope that those with the power to restore peace and liberty will find the courage and will to do so. I continue to pray for a new global governance which can achieve peace and security for mankind,” Rolet commented in a statement.
In fact, the executive has been facing heavy pressure to resign from his position since the company’s shares were suspended from being trading at the London Stock Exchange amid renewed sanctions. “As I’ve said elsewhere, the logic of using the weight of sanctions, boycotts, and public pressure to punish LSE-listed companies for failures of policy and negotiation frankly eludes me,” he said on Tuesday.
Rolet's Ties to Russia
Since the time he held the position of Chief of the London Stock Exchange , a role he held from 2009 to 2017, the French businessman has been a supporter of cooperation between Russian and European businesses. Moreover, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov awarded the former Lehman Brothers employee the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation in 2017.
Earlier this week, the European Union added PhosAgro’s top executive, Andrey Guryev, to the sanctions list, revealing that the fertilizer producer is ‘largely connected’ with the Russian government for whom it is a major source of revenue.
However, despite calls to resign, Rolet has refused to do so despite holding a position at the company on the Board of Directors since 2019, which earned him over GBP 175,000 approximately in 2020.
As Finance Magnates reported last month, in response to Russia sending troops to Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine, the UK announced sanctions against 5 Russian banks and 3 high-net-worth individuals.
