Friedman's son asked to lift Ukrainian sanctions

The businessman's son posted a video message on YouTube in which he said that he considers himself a Ukrainian. He accused Kyiv of refusing to take into account his opinion on the special operation and stated,

The son of the co-founder of Alfa Group and LetterOne holding Mikhail Fridman, Alexander Ozhelsky, asked Kyiv to lift the sanctions imposed on him on October 21. He stated this in a video message posted on YouTube.

Ozhelsky said he was surprised by Kyiv's refusal to consider his views on the Russian special operation. He stressed that initially he did not support her and went to rallies in support of Ukraine in London.

“I can’t believe that the only reason for these sanctions is my connection with another person. <…> I believe that this decision should be reversed. I don't deserve these sanctions. I consider myself a Ukrainian, I have relatives there, and I’m used to going there,” Ozhelsky, 22, said.

Ozhelsky assured that he left Russia on February 24, the day the special operation began, has not returned since then and does not plan to do so. The young man said that he now lives in Dubai in a rented apartment. He added that he left friends and business in Russia, as he “values ​​his freedom more.”

Alexander Ozhelsky is the third of Fridman's five children, he was born in 2000. In May, Forbes ranked Friedman's children in 20th place in its ranking of the richest heirs of Russian billionaires. According to the publication, each of them accounted for $ 2.6 billion when inheriting the fortune of a businessman. Forbes estimates Friedman's net worth at $13.2 billion.

In Russia, Ozhelsky still has a business - SixFigures Development (Esef Development LLC), which is engaged in the wholesale trade in drinks. According to SPARK and the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Ozhelsky owns 50% in it, another 25% each belongs to Sergey Burdaev and Vladislav Shachnev.

The day before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions against 2,251 Russian citizens, some foreigners and 1,300 organizations. Ozhelsky and other members of the Fridman family were subject to restrictions. The businessman himself is also under Ukrainian sanctions, his assets in the country have been arrested.

In the spring, after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Fridman came under EU and UK sanctions. The authorities of Western countries considered that the businessman is closely connected with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

After that, Fridman left the board of directors of Alfa-Bank, LetterOne, Veon, X5 Retail Group. The entrepreneur challenged the EU restrictions in court. On February 27, the businessman said that “the current conflict is a tragedy for both peoples,” but he still faced restrictions.

Fridman was born in Lvov, and now he has Israeli and Russian citizenship. In early June, Oleksandr Novikov, head of Ukraine's National Corruption Prevention Agency, said that Fridman was consulting with the Ukrainian authorities about the possibility of obtaining the country's citizenship. “Such a scenario is also possible for other major Russian businessmen of Ukrainian origin, such as Viktor Vekselberg, who was born in Drohobych,” Novikov added. Alfa Group denied the information.