Mikhail Fridman, oligarch who sought to escape European sanctions, involved in insuring Russian military vehicles in Ukraine
A new investigation by Skhemy, a Ukrainian division of Radio Liberty, has uncovered the Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman’s involvement in providing insurance to the Russian military in Ukraine.
The investigation documents Fridman’s ties to the insurance company AlfaStrakhovanie, which insures the Russian National Guard’s vehicles now in use on Ukrainian territory.
In particular, Skhemy published a number of 2022 insurance policies for military trucks that have since been noticed in the Russian motorcades returning from Ukraine.
AlfaStrakhovanie also provides car insurance for the St. Petersburg branch of the Interior Ministry (one of whose vehicles has been spotted in the occupied Mariupol) and for the Special Programs office of the Russian Presidential Administration, responsible for the president’s personal security and the security of secret facilities.
Fridman himself told Skhemy that he remains a shareholder of AlfaStrakhovanie, but hasn’t been on its board of directors since February 2022.
Ukraine’s Justice Ministry suggests that Skhemy’s findings might supply the grounds for confiscating Fridman’s Ukrainian assets.
Mikhail Fridman was subjected to British and European personal sanctions in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He has since disputed the sanctions.
Last March, it emerged that Leonid Volkov, chairman of Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, had signed two letters to the European Commission, arguing for lifting the sanctions imposed on Fridman and several other ultra-wealthy Russians. One of the letters had been signed surreptitiously on behalf of ACF but without its knowledge. In the wake of the scandal, Volkov resigned from his post.
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