Russian oligarch is offering $1 billion to Ukraine to try and get out of being sanctioned

Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman is said to have offered to pay $1 billion from his own pocket into a Ukrainian bank he co-founded in a bid to evade sanctions.

Fridman reportedly hopes the move will convince the UK to lift sanctions against him and he isn’t the only Russian tycoon exploring their options when it comes to sanction avoidance.

The West announced in March that Russian oligarchs and political allies of Vladimir Putin would be hit with sanctions amid their country’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Yurii Zushchyk / Alamy Stock Photo

According to the Wall Street Journal, Fridman - who owns controlling shares in Alfa Bank, one of Russia’s largest private banks - has denied having made a quid pro quo offer to Ukraine.

The outlet also quotes the British Foreign Office as having said: “The UK does not condone any sanctions avoidance.”

Fridman’s business partners, Petr Aven and German Khan, were also targeted by sanctions imposed by the UK and EU in March in bid to economically cripple Russia.

Last month, the WSJ reported that Alexey Mordashov, the main shareholder of Russia's largest steel and mining company, had also tried to work out ways to ‘free up assets’ amid the USA, EU and UK’s imposed sanctions. 

WSJ said that people familiar with the matter had confirmed Mordashov’s lawyers were ‘engaged with a range of intermediaries who are advising his team on various scenarios to present to US officials’.

REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

UNILAD has approached the British Foreign Office for comment. 

The UK’s ‘first barrage' of sanctions against Russia were announced in February by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

In a statement made in the House of Commons, Johnson confirmed that the UK would be 'immediately' implementing economic sanctions targeting Russian economic interests in an effort to deter Putin from launching a wider invasion.

Johnson announced sanctions on five Russian banks — Rossiya Bank, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank, and Black Sea Bank — and three 'high net worth' Russian individuals, freezing their assets in the UK, banning the individuals from travelling to the UK, and preventing UK entities from carrying out business dealings with the banks and individuals subject to the sanctions.

In response, Putin claimed Western sanctions on Russia could cause a global food crisis among the world’s poorer countries. 

He said the West could be in a position to buy up supplies due to the higher energy prices and shortage of fertilisers, meaning there would be a shortage of food among the less privileged nations.  

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