The European Union's decision to remove Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov, founder of USM Holdings, and Mikhail Fridman of Alfa Group from the sanctions list is shameful and unjustified, said Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.
"Moscow is celebrating because it got what it wanted: a sense of impunity, the humiliation of the EU, and division among Europeans," he said on X social media platform on Tuesday.
"But there is still a way to spoil the celebrations in Moscow. I urge all EU member states to announce now that they will impose their own national sanctions on these two individuals," Sybiha said.
As reported, the ambassadors – the permanent representatives of EU member states – after a discussion that lasted the past few weeks, finally decided to extend the sanctions for violating Ukraine's territorial integrity by three years instead of six months, as had been the case previously, but this came at the cost of excluding Usmanov and Friedman from the sanctions list at the request of Slovakia, France, and Luxembourg.
Ukraine imposed personal sanctions against Russian oligarchs Usmanov and Friedman on October 19, 2022. As the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy noted at the time, sanctions were imposed that day against 256 individuals – oligarchs from the Forbes list and their associates. The list included Friedman's partners at Alfa Group – Petr Aven, German Khan, and Alexei Kuzmichev – as well as Vladimir Lisin, Leonid Mikhelson, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, Mikhail Prokhorov, Suleiman Kerimov, Elena Baturina, Yuri Kovalchuk, and others.
A major asset of Friedman and his partners – Sense Bank (formerly Alfa-Bank) – was nationalized by Ukraine in the summer of 2023. In 2022, ARMA also took control, by court order, of the corporate rights and other assets of IDS Ukraine – a group linked to Friedman and the country's largest producer and distributor of mineral water.
In September 2024, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine filed a lawsuit with the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) seeking to forfeit the assets of IDS Ukraine and other Ukrainian assets linked to Friedman to the state. Specifically, the case involved shares and stakes in the Myrhorod Mineral Water Plant, Morshyn "Oscar" Mineral Water Plant, Industrial and Distribution Systems, Alfa Insurance, and Alfa-Leasing Ukraine. Hearings in this case are still ongoing.
As for the Ukrainian assets of Usmanov and his business partners – the Skoch and Streshinsky families – in 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC), acting on a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice, had already ruled to forfeit them to the state. According to information from then-Deputy Minister of Justice Inna Bahatykh, the assets in question include more than 165,000 metric tonnes of iron ore products with an estimated value of over UAH 2 billion, as well as 100% of the charter capital of Peter-Service Ukraine LLC – an IT company previously controlled by Usmanov.
