Mikhail Fridman. EPA-EFE/PAVEL GOLOVKIN / POOL
The Council of the European Union has decided not to lift the remaining sanctions against Russian billionaire businessman Mikhail Fridman, state-affiliated business daily Vedomosti reported on Friday.
Quoting two letters the council had sent Fridman in July, Vedomosti said the remaining sanctions would remain unchanged, without providing further explanation.
Fridman referred to the council’s decision in a request for arbitration with Luxembourg at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre in August. He first challenged the Luxembourg government’s freeze on €14.3 billion of his assets in May, arguing that he considered the assets to have been expropriated and demanding compensation.
The EU first imposed sanctions on Fridman in February 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, citing Fridman’s alleged support for the invasion and financial assistance to the Russian regime that furthered its policy in Ukraine.
Fridman, who co-founded the Russian Alfa Group consortium in 1989 and went on to become one of Russia’s richest men, still owns a large stake in the Russian Alfa Group despite stepping down from its board of directors in March 2022. The Alfa Group’s portfolio includes stakes in multiple banks, insurance companies, retail operators, oil companies and telecommunications providers.
With a personal net worth estimated at €12 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Fridman currently lives abroad and has long denied suggestions he is close to Vladimir Putin.
Fridman successfully challenged one raft of sanctions through the Court of Justice of the European Union in April, with the court finding the bloc had failed to provide sufficient evidence that he had supported the Kremlin’s actions or policies against Ukraine.
