Who are the most powerful Russian oligarchs affected by sanctions after Putin’s war in Ukraine

Thursday, February 24, 2022 was a milestone day for the world to become. What was being prepared for weeks finally became a reality. A Russian invasion of Ukraine that ended in a bloodbath large-scale war and who is raging on many fronts within the country.

From the end of 2021 and especially the first days of 2022, the West, with America prominent, warned of a large-scale military intervention by Russia in the territory of Ukraine. As countermeasures The West has begun imposing sanctions on Russia, especially on Russian oligarchs, businesses and financial institutions.. Gradually these sanctions escalated in contrast to the escalation of the Moscow attack.

But who are these Russian oligarchs affected by the sanctions and what are their relations with the West and Putin? And consequently will the measures that have been taken or are expected to be taken have any impact on the Russian president himself and on the policy he pursues?

The heavy papers

In early February 2022, Forbes had compiled a list of Joe Biden with Russian billionaires who could be sanctioned in response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine. An invasion that became a reality as well as some of these sanctions.

At least 11 billionaires – close friends of Vladimir Putin – have been accused by the US of “illegal economic activities”, either shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 or in the wake of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Russian oligarchs are the big businessmen of the former Soviet republics who quickly amassed wealth during the period of Russian privatization after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. former USSR officials (mainly in Russia and Ukraine) as a means of acquiring state property. Historian Edward L. Keenan has made a comparison between the current Russian phenomenon of oligarchs and the system of powerful saints who emerged in late medieval Muscovite feudalism.

The first modern Russian oligarchs emerged as businessmen under Mikhail Gorbachev (Secretary-General 1985-1991) during the market liberalization period. the coexistence of regulated and quasi-commercial prices has created enormous opportunities for enrichment. “

The most famous oligarchs of Vladimir Putin’s time are Roman Abramovich, Alexander Abramov, Oleg Deripaska, Mikhail Prokorov, Alisher Osmanov, German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg, Leonid Mickelson, Vagit Alekperov, Mikhail Fridn, Vlindman Vlandman, Vladan, Igor Setsin, Alisher Usmanov, Nikolai Tokarev, Alexei Mordasov. The list of oligarchs hit by the sanctions also includes the youngest Russian billionaire Kirill Samanov, who can not travel to Great Britain and his assets have been frozen.

Some of them have escaped for now while some have been severely injured. Let’s look at the most basic ones from the second team since the first one is featured Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. Who announced that a store is entering the “Blues” while she stated that she will not ask for the repayment of her debts Chelsea to his person, deciding to donate the income he will receive to those affected by him war in Ukraine.

But let’s look at 7 of the oligarchs affected by the sanctions and how they reacted

Alexei Mordasov

Mordashev, 56, is considered the richest man in Russia with a fortune of close to 22 billion. He owns Severstal, one of Russia’s leading steel mills. From working as an economist at Severstal’s production company in Cherepovets in western Russia, he became a major shareholder in the company. His other business interests include a 32% stake in German travel agent Tui and he owns half of Tele2, one of the largest telecommunications companies in Russia.

Mordashev is also one of the Russian oligarchs who spoke openly in favor of peace between Ukraine and Russia. He said “what is happening in Ukraine is a tragedy for two brotherly nations” and urged that a way be found to “resolve this conflict and stop the bloodshed”. He added: “I have absolutely nothing to do with the emergence of the current geopolitical tension,” Mordashev said on Monday. “I do not understand why the EU imposed sanctions on me.”

Alisher Usmanov

Usmanov’s largest share (worth $ 19.7 billion) is in steelmaker Metalloinvest. Thanks to Yuri Milner, CEO of Russian venture fund Digital Sky Technologies, he was one of the first to invest in Facebook. Usmanov owns shares in Chinese tech giant Xiaomi, telecommunications and mining companies, and the media. He also had the germ of the English football teams, since in the past he owned 30% of Arsenal. In 2018, he sold his stake in the London team for $ 712 million to American billionaire Stanley Krenke, owner – among others – of the American football team Los Angeles Rams.

In December, Usmanov’s holding company sold its stake in VK – a leading Russian Internet service group formerly known as Mail.Ru – to Sogaz’s insurance company, partly owned by Putin’s ally Yuri Kovaltsuk. which amounts to $ 3.6 billion. According to the expert, Usmanov has repeatedly covered Putin and provided solutions to his business problems. In addition, Usmanov works closely with Andrei Scott, another Russian oligarch (with a net worth of $ 7.7 billion), to whom the US imposed sanctions in 2018.

In a simple statement, Usmanov called the sanctions unfair and defamatory. On Thursday 3/3 it became known that Germany confiscated his $ 600 million luxury yacht.

Michael Friedman

Mikhail Friedman is the co-founder of the Alfa Group, which owns Russia’s largest private bank Alfa-Bank, the largest supermarket chain X5 and the mobile phone company Veon. He manages the London-based private equity company LetterOne, which he co-founded with partners in London in 2013, using the $ 14 billion raised from the sale of a stake in the TNK-BP oil group to Rosneft to invest in energy, telecommunications and technology.

Friedman splits his time between Moscow, where the Russian edition of Forbes estimates his fortune at $ 15.5 billion, and London, where he was named the 11th richest man in the United Kingdom by the Sunday Times. He grew up in Lviv in western Ukraine.

“I do not make political statements, I am a businessman with responsibilities to my many thousands of employees in Russia and Ukraine,” Friedman said in a letter to officials Friday, copied by Bloomberg News. “But I am convinced that war can never be the answer.”

Mikhail Friedman even defended, in his defense, that “he has not cultivated strong ties” with the environment of Russian President Vladimir Putin as the EU accuses him.

Asked during a press conference in London why he did not dare to criticize the Kremlin more harshly, he appeared, however, to say, according to the Financial Times, that “if he makes any political statement that is not acceptable back to Russia, it it will then have very clear implications for his company, its customers, its creditors and its shareholders. “

Peter Aven

Friedman’s partner, Peter Aven, joined Alfa after serving as Russia’s trade minister in the early 1990s and chairing the group’s bank. He also divides his time between London and Moscow. Aven, whose fortune is estimated at $ 5.6 billion, has published several books based on interviews with other major players in Russia’s troubled 1990s, including one on the late oligarch Boris Berezovsky.

Gennady Timchenko

Timchenko, 69, controls the Volga Group, a Russian-based investment firm with interests in energy, transportation and construction. Its largest holdings are listed on the listed natural gas producer Novatek and the chemical manufacturer Sibur. It sold a stake in oil trading company Gunvor Group before facing US sanctions on Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Timchenko was also sanctioned last month by the UK government as the crisis in Ukraine escalated. It has a net worth of about $ 11.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Index.

Igor Setsin

Igor Setsin is the CEO of Rosneft, Russia’s leading oil producer. A former member of siloviki, the term used to describe people with military backgrounds and backgrounds in security structures, Setsin worked with Vladimir Putin in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office in the 1990s. Putin brought him to Moscow when he joined the national government. Szczecin served as deputy head of the Kremlin administration and deputy prime minister of Russia before being appointed head of Rosneft in 2012.

The Rosneft chief has been described as one of “Putin’s most trusted and closest advisers, as well as a personal friend”, who had daily contacts with the president and received financial benefits and “significant rewards in exchange for obedience and loyalty”.

Szczecin is already subject to a travel ban and the seizure of US assets, as is his son. His fortune reaches 169 million. France has seized Setsin yachts in the Mediterranean port of La Siota.

Nikolai Tokarev

Nikolai Tokarev is the head of Russia’s state-controlled oil pipeline operator Transneft. He is a former KGB officer who served with Putin in Dresden, then in East Germany, in the 1980s. Tokarev previously headed Zarubezhneft, one of Russia’s largest oil companies. Transneft has built major oil pipelines during his tenure.

Tokarev, chief executive of the Russian oil and gas company Transneft, served with Putin in the KGB and is said by the EU to be “one of the state oligarchs who took control of large state assets in the 2000s as Putin consolidated power and operates in close cooperation with the Russian state. ” Tokarev has the smallest fortune (1.5 million) but is considered a key figure because of his ties to Putin and the secret services.