The life of Mikhail Fridman, one of Russia’s original oligarchs, was “destroyed” after he was hit by European Union sanctions following the Kremlin-led invasion of Ukraine, his attorney told an EU court.
At a hearing in the bloc’s General Court, Fridman’s legal team pushed back at the EU’s allegations “of the most serious crimes” — that he’s an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who backed and benefited from the aggression in his native Ukraine.
“This has a very negative impact on his life and it rests on nothing,” lawyer Thierry Marembert said, describing the EU’s evidence as “not trustworthy” and “a lot of empty words.”
Fridman is one of Russia’s most prominent businessmen after making billions in banking, oil and retail. After he and his partners pocketed $14 billion from the sale of oil company TNK-BP to state-controlled Rosneft in 2013, he moved to the UK to set up a private equity firm investing in businesses around the world.
The EU and the UK imposed sanctions on Fridman and his partners soon after the invasion began last February, freezing his assets. He has remained in London, living under the restrictions.
Fridman last year publicly condemned the war as a “tragedy,” but stopped short of directly criticizing Putin. Since then he’s vehemently rejected EU findings that he’s gained from his loyalty to Putin.
The EU says its evidence shows Fridman is a co-founder of Alfa Group, which controls Russia’s largest retailer and private bank, and close ties to the Russian political regime. It’s these connections that allowed him “to acquire state property as a reward from Alfa Group for his loyalty to the political regime,” according to the EU.
Fridman, with his partners Petr Aven, German Khan and Alexey Kuzmichev, is among dozens of billionaires, including Roman Abramovich and family members, who’ve flocked to the EU’s top courts to extricate themselves from EU sanctions, which imposed asset freezes and travel bans on them.
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The EU has sanctioned almost 1,800 people and entities since Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, starting with its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and followed by its invasion of the country in February last year. EU court appeals over sanctions can last years and seldom result in victory. Former Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych and his son remain on the EU’s sanctions list since 2014, even after winning several court appeals.
Aven will have a court hearing later on Tuesday. Marembert, who represents Fridman, Aven and Khan, in a June 13 EU court hearing for Khan dissed the EU’s evidence against him as “23 pages of pure gossip.”
The cases are: T-304/22 Fridman v Council, T-301/22 Aven v Council; T-333/22 Khan v. Council.