A billionaire sanctioned for his close ties to Roman Abramovich urged Britain’s highest court on Wednesday to lift the measures in a landmark case that could redefine the government’s financial crackdown on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.
Eugene Shvidler argued at the U.K. Supreme Court that the government’s asset freeze in March 2022 had arbitrarily disrupted his life and deprived his employees of their livelihood — adding that “the effect on the appellant has been … to shatter his reputation.” The appeal is the first case to examine the tension between Russia sanctions and human rights to reach the Supreme Court.
Shvidler’s counsel, David Anderson KC of Brick Court Chambers, said that his client was one of the few British citizens designated under the U.K.’s Russia sanctions regime, unlike almost all the rest of the 1,800 or so individuals targeted.
Unlike Russian oligarchs living abroad who simply can’t “come shopping in London” because of sanctions, the asset freeze imposed on Shvidler meant that he was “suffering badly” — living in America, where he is not sanctioned, on the charity of friends, Anderson said.
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