Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven claim that they “do not understand why the sanctions were imposed against them.”
Russian billionaires Pyotr Aven and Mikhail Fridman called their billion-dollar investments in European countries a mistake. Bloomberg reported this.
“I was given no choice, I was forced out… Now the fact that we invested in England looks like a big mistake,” Friedman told the agency.
At the very beginning of Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine, he lived in London, although he complained about the sanctions. In October, he first moved to Israel, and after the conflict between Israel and Hamas worsened, he returned to Russia.
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“I have a very large house and garden, and the British authorities do not allow me to hire a cleaner or a gardener… I have to be at home every night and checked at the police station twice a week. I can’t use my car and have to use public transportation, and my house is far from the metro,” complained Friedman.
His business partner Petr Aven has Latvian citizenship and left the UK for this country last year. Now he also called investing in European countries a mistake and complained of “psychological pressure” because of the sanctions.
According to him, in July 2022, while flying from the UK to the Baltics, police at the London airport questioned him for three hours and at one point asked why he and his partners had invested billions in West and located their headquarters in England. . “By mistake,” answered the billionaire.
Fridman and Aven say they “do not understand why the sanctions were imposed against them.” Western businessmen and politicians are responsible for the current situation in Russia “certainly no less than the so-called Russian oligarchs,” Aven is sure.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, after the comments of Fridman and Aven for Bloomberg, said that the return of big businessmen to Russia is a normal process, because “they have a homeland.”
After the start of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly called on Russian businessmen to keep their assets in Russia to avoid arrest by foreign law enforcement agencies. because of the sanctions.
The head of the Kremlin said that he “warned” Russian businessmen about the consequences of storing assets outside the jurisdiction of Russia, and that the current situation will be a “lesson” for them.
Let’s recall that the day after the start of Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine, Fridman and Aven left Moscow for London. Friedman called the conflict a “tragedy” and condemned the war, but continued to avoid direct criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, his Russian companies continued to make money in the Russian Federation.
In March 2022, Aven and Fridman were subject to EU and UK sanctions, and in August 2023, they were blacklisted by the US Treasury Department.
Source: korrespondent
I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.