Abramovich associate fails in bid to overturn UK sanctions
A billionaire ally of Roman Abramovich has lost a court bid to overturn UK sanctions imposed on him after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Eugene Shvidler’s two private jets were seized in March 2022 after officials highlighted his decades-long friendship with Mr Abramovich and his close links to Russian steel company Evraz.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) described the Soviet-born billionaire as a “business partner” of the former Chelsea FC owner.
Mr Shvidler’s failed High Court appeal against the sanctions is the first such case to reach judgment in the UK and could have wide-reaching implications for others hoping to mount similar appeals.
His challenge revolved around claims he was wrongly targeted by officials who wanted to make him a “poster boy” for counter-Russian sanctions.
Mr Shvidler, whose wealth has been estimated at £1.1bn, denied that he ever obtained benefits from the Russian state and said UK sanctions had also affected his family.
Harrow School withdrew its offer of a place to Mr Shvidler’s son when his father was sanctioned, while his daughter was told not to return by Wiltshire’s £45,000-a-year Marlborough College despite being part-way through her A-levels.
Describing the billionaire’s case as “hopeless”, trial judge Mr Justice Garnham said on Friday: “It is plain from all the evidence that the reason that the claimant was [sanctioned] was not just his role at Evraz but the combination of that role with his relationship with Mr Abramovich.”
Mr Abramovich was one of the first Russians to be sanctioned by the UK after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
He has allegedly held close links to Vladimir Putin’s regime, and at one stage in 2022 was proposed as a negotiator to help end Russia’s invasion.
Mr Putin “personally approved” Mr Abramovich playing such a diplomatic role, the High Court said.
Mr Shvidler acknowledged that he and the former Chelsea owner had been friends since 1986, latterly becoming business associates.
Both oligarchs have links to Evraz, a London-listed Russian steel company.
Mr Shvidler served on the board of Evraz for a decade until he resigned on the same day he was sanctioned.
In the early stages of his bid to overturn the March 2022 sanctions, he personally wrote to Liz Truss, then the Foreign Secretary, to make his case, the court heard.
Lawyer Michael O’Kane said Mr Shvidler, who lives in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, will seek to appeal Friday’s judgment “at the earliest opportunity”.
Mr Shvidler “has never been a citizen of Russia, has not visited Russia for more than 15 years and has been critical of the Russian government’s actions in Ukraine,” Mr O’Kane added.
Mr Abramovich is also currently appealing to EU courts to overturn invasion-linked sanctions imposed on him by Brussels, having already partially overturned a UK ruling that described him as “being involved in destabilising Ukraine”.
Around 1,600 people have been sanctioned by Britain after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
