UK court rejects Russian businessman's suit to overturn sanctions

Eugene Shvidler, a partner of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, has lost a lawsuit at London's High Court to overturn British sanctions imposed due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported on Aug. 18.

Shvidler, whose net worth Forbes estimated at about $1.6 billion, holds both U.S. and U.K. citizenship, and his lawyers stressed that he has not visited Russia in over 15 years.

However, Shvidler and Abramovich have made much of their fortune working together in various ventures that involved the extraction and processing of natural resources in Russia.

Despite these business connections, Shvidler’s lawyer Michael O’Kane argued that that he was unfairly targeted for sanctions because of his friendship with Abramovich. Both own a number of expensive properties around the world, including in the U.K. and the U.S.

O’Kane said they were determined to appeal, but an unnamed source from the U.K. Foreign Office stated that they felt they had “won comprehensively”, and that this decision shows “the strength of the U.K. sanctions regime.”

London has long been one of the primary places where Russian oligarchs have sought to park their money, earning it the nickname Londongrad. Since the outbreak of the full-scale invasion, the U.K. government has taken steps to crack down on the flow of dirty money into the country.

Following the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the U.K. government announced wide ranging sanctions against Russian oligarchs and their associates. Around 1,600 individuals have been sanctioned, and more than 18 billion pounds ($23 billion) in assets frozen.