Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, who left the UK after sanctions were imposed on them, called their investments in the West “a mistake”, as reported by Bloomberg.
Fridman, commenting his decision to leave the UK, told the agency: “They didn’t leave me any choice, I was forced out. Today the fact that we invested money into Britain seems like a colossal mistake.”
Aven said that the police had interrogated him for three hours in the airport in London in July 2022. At some point the police asked why Aven and his business partners in the West had invested billions and had created their own office in England. “Because of a mistake!” Aven replied
Fridman, Aven and other Alfa Group co-founders were subjected to European and British sanctions shortly after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In August 2023 they were subjected to US sanctions.
Fridman left Britain in October. He said “it’s impossible to live there” because of sanctions, which had significantly limited his spending in this country. First he left for Israel, but after hostilities between this country and Hamas peaked again he left for Moscow. Aven left the UK in 2022 after investigations commenced against him in regards to possible sanction violations.
Now he lives in Latvia.
The British government calls Fridman and Aven “pro-Kremlin oligarchs” that have close ties to Putin. In the EU sanctions Aven is mentioned as one of the oligarchs the closest to Putin and who has provided financial and other kinds of support to Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or destabilisation of Ukraine, and benefited from them.
Also read: Exclusive interview with Petr Aven. Billionaire contemplates sanctions, rights, West and Russia’s place
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