As Russia sanctions intensify, several oligarchs speak out against Ukraine war

Several Russian oligarchs are rushing to distance themselves from Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Western countries threaten to squeeze their assets with an unprecedented sanctions drive.

In recent days a parade of Russian businessmen burnished their antiwar stances as governments tightened a noose around Kremlin-connected businesses and property. Oligarch Roman Abramovich, who hasn’t been sanctioned, said that he was helping Ukraine negotiate peace with Russia. Oleg Tinkov, the billionaire founder of Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, a unit of TCS Group Holding PLC, highlighted the work his foundation does to help children and his desire for no war. Mr. Tinkov also hasn’t been sanctioned. Oleg Deripaska, a raw-materials magnate who was previously sanctioned in the U.S., wrote on social media Sunday that peace "is very important."

"Please don’t draw an equal sign between Russians, the Russian state and the Government of [the] Russian Federation. There are many Russians strongly opposing the current military action, and I am one of them," said Andrey Yakunin, the founder of private-equity group VIY Management and son of Vladimir Yakunin, former president of OAO Russian Railways. The elder Mr. Yakunin was sanctioned in the U.S. a few years ago.

The events in Ukraine over the past week have ruptured a delicate compact between Western governments and Russian businessmen. For years, the West tolerated funneling billions of dollars out of the ruins of the Soviet Union into high-end property, business and art. The benefit to governments was massive investment by many of these individuals, boosting local economies. Western governments now hope that punishing a cadre of well-connected people with deep links to Russia will in turn put pressure on Mr. Putin.

The European Union said Monday night that it added 26 prominent Russians officials and businessmen to its sanctions list, freezing their assets and imposing travel bans. The U.K. is expected to sanction more oligarchs in the coming days. Even Monaco, famed for its generous tax rules and status as a playground for the well-heeled, said it was clamping down on sanctioned Russians.

The British Parliament will vote on a law in the coming weeks to force anonymous foreign owners of U.K. properties to reveal their identities and strengthen provisions to freeze the assets of alleged kleptocrats who can’t prove the origins of their wealth.

MEET PUTIN'S INNER OLIGARCH CIRCLE AS US SANCTIONS FLY

France announced on Tuesday the creation of a task force to hunt down sanctioned Russian oligarchs and their families’ assets in the country. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that the French state was exploring ways not just to freeze assets, but to seize them. "When we seize it, it means you lose the ownership of that apartment, that yacht, or that house," Mr. Le Maire said, adding that the West was waging "all-out economic and financial war on Russia."

In response, Dimity Medvedev, deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, tweeted: "Watch your tongue, gentlemen! And don’t forget that in human history, economic wars quite often turned into real ones." Mr. Le Maire later said his use of the word "war" was inappropriate.

Lawyers caution that the political rhetoric may not match the legal reality. "This is all going to be subject to enormous litigation," said Olivier Dorgans, economic sanctions lawyer at Ashurst. Authorities are going to have to prove that the sanctioned individuals own those assets outright, a potentially difficult job since many of them are held through opaque ownership structures, he said. In reality, few assets will probably be seized, he said.

For some targeted Russians, the fightback is already underway. Mikhail Fridman, a founder of Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest private bank, was sanctioned by the EU late Monday. The EU said he cultivated strong ties to Mr. Putin and acquired state assets through these connections. Mr. Fridman said that he would contest the designation, and that he isn’t politically or financially connected to Mr. Putin.

"It seems to me that we have done a lot of good things, invested in companies, created a lot of jobs," Mr. Fridman said Tuesday, banging his hand on the conference table in front of him as he spoke during a press conference from his private-equity firm’s office in London. "We will litigate to protect our reputation."

Mr. Fridman last week criticized the Ukraine war in a staff email, saying it would hurt people of both countries. Asked Tuesday whether he is willing to condemn Mr. Putin directly, Mr. Fridman said that doing so would be dangerous for his firm’s employees. He added that punishing him would do nothing to sway Mr. Putin.

The British Foreign Office has been inundated with letters from lawyers warning against targeting their clients, a process which officials say has limited the number of people the U.K. has sanctioned. The government department has tripled the number of staffers in its sanctions department and hired more lawyers. "It does not dissuade me when people send me letters; it encourages me when people send me letters, and they are on our list," said U.K. Foreign Minister Liz Truss.

Mr. Fridman—who hasn’t been sanctioned in the U.K.—is part of a group of oligarchs in London who have sought involvement in the London establishment. He bought a 150-year-old London home and spent millions of pounds restoring it, a process he described in a local newspaper.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AND US ALLIES AIM TO SEIZE RUSSIAN YACHTS AND MANSIONS

Others who invested in London included Mr. Abramovich, the former oil company owner who bought a famed London soccer club, and Evgeny Lebedev, the son of a former KGB officer and sometime Kremlin critic, who runs two British newspapers. Mr. Lebedev hasn’t been sanctioned.

On Monday, Mr. Lebedev wrote a front-page letter to Mr. Putin in a newspaper he owns stating "as a Russian citizen I plead with you to stop Russians killing their Ukrainian brothers and sisters."

Over the weekend, Mr. Abramovich transferred the "stewardship and care" of his soccer club, Chelsea FC, to the trustees of the team’s charitable foundation. The club, however, isn’t for sale, and he remains the owner.

Mr. Abramovich has hardly been seen in the U.K. since 2018. On Monday, Mr. Abramovich’s spokeswoman said that he was asked to help support a peaceful resolution of the war. She said that the Ukrainian side reached out and that "he has been trying to help ever since." She declined to comment further.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Pressure had already ramped up on oligarchs since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Many have handed assets over to children or spouses. It is unclear whether such assets will be targeted. The British government, for instance, isn’t going to target oligarchs’ children, officials say.