Shvidler is not challenging the sanctions legislation itself but the government’s interpretation of it in his case. Anderson has argued in written submissions to the court that the measures taken against Shvidler had little hope or “rational connection” to the government’s foreign policy goals of pressing the Russian government to end the war.
He had renounced his Russian citizenship after leaving the former Soviet Union in 1998 to move to America. He was given a British visa in 2004 and became a British citizen in 2010. He has five children, all British.
Anderson said Shvidler has asked the Foreign Office five times for advice on what he should do to exert influence over Abramovich and, in turn, Vladimir Putin. Those requests have been ignored, Anderson said. The government’s stance was arbitrary, seemingly “tantamount to, ‘You never know, designation might do some good,'” Anderson said.
Shvidler lost his first attempt to overturn sanctions in August 2023 when the High Court ruled that the government was permitted to use the restrictive measures to send a signal about Britain’s stance on benefiting Russia’s regime, even indirectly.
