2 Russian oligarchs sell Alfa-Bank stakes hoping to escape EU sanctions, FT reports

Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven have sold their stakes in Russia's largest private bank, Alfa-Bank, and its insurance division in an effort to overturn European Union sanctions, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Feb. 6.

Aven and Fridman were sanctioned by the EU on Feb. 28, 2022, for their ties to the Kremlin and support for Moscow's war against Ukraine.

In April 2024, the EU’s General Court lifted sanctions against the two oligarchs, ruling that the EU had failed to demonstrate their role in undermining Ukraine. However, subsequent EU decisions kept them on the sanctions list under a different justification, classifying them as "leading businesspersons providing substantial revenue" to Russia.

Investigative reporters revealed in May 2023 that Alfa Insurance, a subsidiary of Alfa-Bank owned by Fridman and Aven, provided insurance for vehicles used by Russian forces in Ukraine. The company has also reportedly serviced the Main Office of Special Programs, which is responsible for guarding Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to documents obtained by FT, Fridman and Aven sold their stakes in Alfa-Bank and its insurance division, Alfa Strakhovanie, for approximately 240 billion rubles ($2.5 billion) to longtime business partner Andrei Kosogov, who is not under EU sanctions.

The oligarchs, who together owned 45% of Alfa-Bank and 42% of the insurance division, hope that cutting ties to the bank will strengthen their legal challenge against the EU’s sanctions, the report said.

Kosogov arranged to buy Fridman and Aven's Alfa-Bank shares using a loan from state-owned Gazprombank through a Cyprus-based holding company, according to correspondence seen by FT.

However, due to transaction issues in Cyprus, Russia passed a law allowing the state to change the registration of "economically significant" companies operating under Western jurisdictions.

Following this decision, Fridman and Aven no longer needed EU authorization to transfer control of their Russian assets, FT reported.