Ukraine seizes million-dollar assets of Russian oligarch

The court in Ukraine has arrested the assets of the Russian oligarch in the Ukrainian company, engaged in the production and sale of mineral water.

It has been established that the enterprise, through Cypriot companies, belongs to an oligarch from Russia, RBK-Ukraine reports, citing the country’s Bureau of Economic Security.

The owners tried to avoid sanctions and nationalization by planning to withdraw their assets through fake transactions.

On the recommendation of the bureau, the court seized the assets of the oligarch for 53.4 million hryvnias ($1.8 million).

The Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper reported that this is a Russian sub-sanctioned oligarch Mikhail Fridman. Together with his partners German Khan and Petr Aven, he owns IDS Group Ukraine, which is a "subsidiary" of the international group IDS Borjomi International.

In Ukraine, this enterprise is an importer of Borjomi mineral water, which is represented by the Morshynska and Mirgorodska brands.

According to consulting agencies, in 2021 the company's value was more than 10 billion hryvnias ($338.3 million).

It was previously reported that Mikhail Fridman was a native of Ukraine’s Lviv city of Ukraine, and has citizenship in Russia and Israel. He is a co-owner and chairman of the supervisory board of the Alfa Group consortium, which includes the large private Alfa Bank.