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Ukraine sanctions companies linked to Russian oligarch Fridman

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Ukraine sanctions companies linked to Russian oligarch Fridman
Mikhail Fridman attends the plenary session of the Congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) on the sidelines of Russian Business Week in Moscow in March 2017. (Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)

President Volodymyr Zelensky implemented on Nov. 7 the decision by the National Security and Defense Council to sanction nine companies linked to Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman.

Restrictive measures in the form of blocking assets, preventing the withdrawal of capital, and increasing the capital of Ukrainian subsidiaries for 10 years have been imposed on Sogeral Foundation, Haberfield Ltd., CTF Holdings SA, Slavisilla Holdings Ltd., and Dendar Investment Fund Ltd.

Two-year sanctions were slapped on Alfa Finance Holdings Ltd., Erasmony Ltd., Rissa Investments Ltd., and International Distribution Systems Ltd.

Rissa Investments and International Distribution Systems control Ukraine's largest producer of mineral waters, IDS Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda noted.

Fridman is currently under international sanctions and was arrested in the U.K. in December 2022 before being released on bail.

Investigative reporters discovered in May that his companies are providing services to the Russian government and military amid the ongoing full-scale invasion.

In September, the SBU announced that Fridman was under suspicion of financing the overthrow of constitutional order and seizure of power.

Although Fridman's Sens Bank was nationalized in July, the Ukrainian think tank StateWatch noted that the oligarch continues to directly or indirectly hold shares in the mobile operator Kyivstar, bottled water producers Morshinska and Myrhorodska, and other companies.

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