A sanctioned Russian oligarch says he's struggling to pay bills and isn't sure he can employ a cleaner or driver
Petr Aven, a sanctioned Russian oligarch worth an estimated $5.6 billion, was interviewed by the FT.
In the interview, he said he was struggling to pay bills and didn't "understand how to survive."
He asked: "Will I be allowed to have a cleaner, or a driver?"
A sanctioned Russian oligarch has said he's struggling to pay bills and isn't sure if he'll be able to employ a cleaner or driver.
In an interview with the Financial Times published Friday, Petr Aven, whose wealth is estimated by Bloomberg to be around $5.6 billion, said: "We don't understand how to survive."
In the interview, Aven also asked the question: "Will I be allowed to have a cleaner, or a driver?" and added: "I don't drive a car... maybe my stepdaughter will drive."
Aven was sanctioned by the EU on February 28 and described as "one of Vladimir Putin's closest oligarchs." He was also sanctioned by the UK on March 15 because of his complicity in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said at the time.
In early March, Aven stepped down from the $22 billion investment firm LetterOne, which he cofounded with Mikhail Fridman, another sanctioned Russian oligarch. The two billionaires also reportedly resigned from the boards of the Russian banking company Alfa-Bank days after the EU sanctioned them.
The sanctions meant Aven's assets were frozen and he was banned from doing business in and traveling to the EU and the UK.
He told the FT: "Our business is completely destroyed. Everything which we were building for 30 years is now completely ruined. And we have to somehow start a new life."
Aven said his wife visited cash machines in London to withdraw as much money as she could before the EU sanctions began.
The billionaire told the FT that the sanctions on Russian oligarchs were "understandable" but "not fair," adding: "I don't complain when people are dying."
Aven said he doesn't own a yacht or a private jet, which could be subject to sanctions.
Other Russian oligarchs appear to have had their yachts and jets seized since being sanctioned. Among them are a $75 million superyacht linked to Dmitry Pumpyansky and a $120 million yacht linked to Igor Sechin.
2 luxury private jets belonging to billionaire oligarch Eugene Shvidler, Roman Abramovich's 'right-hand man,' have been seized, report says
Alia Shoaib
Sat, March 26, 2022
Roman Abramovich with Eugene Shvidler.Getty/Nick Potts
Two private jets owned by Eugene Shvidler, Russian oil tycoon and Roman Abramovich associate, The Times reported.
Shvidler was sanctioned by the UK government on Thursday.
The planes have been seized under new laws banning Russian planes from the UK.
The UK has indefinitely detained two private jets linked to Eugene Shvidler, a billionaire oil tycoon and "right-hand man" of Roman Abramovich, The Times of London reported.
Shvidler was one of the latest oligarchs to be sanctioned on Thursday, as the UK slapped targeted 65 new individuals and businesses "fuelling [Vladimir] Putin's war machine."
The oligarch's $45 million Bombardier Global 6500 jet, registered as LX-Fly, is impounded at Farnborough airport, southern England, The Times.
His $13 million Cessna Citation Latitude jet has also been seized.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps signed new laws earlier this month allowing the government to formally detain Russian aircraft and making it a criminal offense for sanctioned oligarch owners to move or fly their plans.
A Bombardier Global 6500 private jet.Thomas Pallini/Business Insider
The UK impounded the Bombardier Global 6500 jet, which can carry 13 passengers, earlier this month while it determined its final ownership.
Ministers are deciding what to do with two seized jets. The Times reported that it is believed they could sell them if they wished to.
"Since Putin began his illegal assault, we have used every power at our disposal to crush his cronies who could financially benefit him. We've held jets under investigations for three weeks, and now, I am using these powers to detain them indefinitely," Grant Shapps told The Times.
"Introducing these latest measures — detaining tens of millions of pounds worth of Russian private jets — shows this government will leave no stone unturned in depriving Putin's cronies of their luxury toys."
Eugene Shvidler has a net worth of $1.6 billion, according to Forbes.
He partnered with Roman Abramovich to purchase oil giant Sibneft in 1995, in what the BBC describes as a "rigged auction."
In 2005, the Russian state-owned gas firm Gazprom paid $13 billion for 73% of Sibneft's shares from Abramovich's investment and asset management company Millhouse LLC, of which Shvidler is chairman.
Abramovich, who owns Chelsea F.C. football club in the UK, has had his assets frozen and was given a travel ban by the government earlier this month.
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