Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Peter Aven, who left the UK after sanctions were imposed on them, consider their investments in the West a mistake.
Source. This was reported by Bloomberg.
In a conversation with the agency, Friedman emphasized that he was "left with no choice".
"I was squeezed out. Today, the fact that we invested in England is a colossal mistake," the oligarch said.
Aven, who now lives in Latvia, whose authorities are threatening to revoke his citizenship, told Bloomberg how in July 2022, police interrogated him for three hours at London's airport, and when they asked him why he invested in the West and opened an office in the UK, Aven did not hold back and replied that he did so "because of a mistake."
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, Mikhail Fridman, Peter Aven and other co-founders of Alfa Group were subject to sanctions by the European Union and the United Kingdom. In August 2023, the United States added them to the blacklist.
In early October, all of Aven and Friedman's assets were seized in Ukraine by court order. Their total value amounted to 17 billion hryvnias ($460 million). These were 20 companies and financial institutions owned directly or through controlled offshore entities by Russian businessmen.
The sanctions were imposed due to their involvement in the financing of the war in Ukraine and their being part of Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
Background. Earlier it was reported that Friedman and Aven are trying to sell their stake in Alfa-Bank, but Cyprus does not agree to this.