The western sanctions against Russia's businessmen are having an effect: apparently the restrictions are affecting the billionaires in such a way that they are now turning directly to Kyiv and the West. In order to get their fortune back, they hope for a deal.
Russian oligarchs are apparently offering Ukraine money in return for being freed from Western sanctions. For example, Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman proposed transferring $1 billion of his private fortune to Ukraine. This reports the "Financial Times" and refers to people who were involved in the negotiations between the billionaire and a US diplomat. Fridman, who lived mainly in London until the beginning of the war, was pursuing a plan: after the payment, Great Britain should lift the sanctions against him. According to the report, other Russian businessmen have approached Western authorities with a similar offer.
Fridman is one of the main founders of Russia's Alfa Bank, and his fortune is estimated at around $13 billion, according to the Financial Times. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, like many other Russian oligarchs, he has been on the blacklist of Western allies. Entry bans were imposed on Russian businessmen, for example, and their assets were frozen. The EU and Great Britain also confiscated private jets, yachts and villas. The latter should particularly hurt Fridman - in 2016 he bought a property in London for $ 85 million, as Bloomberg reported.
According to the Financial Times, in order to regain his wealth and freedom, the Russian billionaire made an offer to the US ambassador in Kyiv, Kristian Kvien: if the US would help him circumvent the sanctions, he would support Ukraine with part of his fortune in rebuilding the country. Those involved told the newspaper about heated discussions between the billionaire and the diplomat. However, the deal didn't go through. While the US State Department does not comment on "diplomatic talks," Fridman denies ever speaking to Kvien or offering payments to Ukraine. Whether other Russian billionaires reached an agreement with western authorities or Kyiv is not known.
However, the Ukrainian government does not seem to think much of negotiating with the Russian oligarchs. "It's a question of principle," Rostislav Shurma, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, told the newspaper. "Ukraine does not use sanctions as a negotiating tool." The main aim of the sanctions is to "end the war". This does not include finding conditions for their repeal.
According to the report, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is "reluctant" to lifting sanctions against Russian businessmen. In the case of the Ukrainian-born Fridman, however, he would make an exception, the newspaper quotes people from his closest circle. To do this, however, the billionaire would have to destroy his Russian passport and speak out against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war of aggression.
However, this is not without risk, the report goes on to say. Many oligarchs feel like they are being watched by the Kremlin. "Many fear being poisoned" if they speak out against the war, the newspaper quotes a Russian businessman as saying. And even if they did, they would apparently have no influence over the Russian president. Because none of the sanctioned Russians are close enough to Putin. In fact, even six months after the start of the war, there is little sign of serious opposition to the Kremlin brewing from sanctioned oligarchs. That was actually the aim of the sanctions against them.
Kyiv and its western allies could thus consider using the oligarchs' fortunes not only as a means of exerting pressure, but also for reconstruction. That's what Canada's deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, suggested back in May, according to an AP report. Ukraine and the West could reframe the alleged offers from Fridman and other Russian billionaires on their terms. Military economist Marcus Keupp made a suggestion on Twitter: "All Russian oligarchs pay 50 percent of their assets into a reconstruction fund for Ukraine and in return receive immunity and the lifting of sanctions."
