I do not know how to live

Three weeks after being hit by Western sanctions, Russian oligarch Mikhail Friedman said in an interview that he no longer knew how to survive, Bloomberg said.

Friedman, with a net worth of $ 10.1 billion, was approved by the European Union on February 28 and the United Kingdom on March 15, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He described the EU sanctions at the time as “unfounded and unjustified” and said he would challenge them, according to Reuters.

Friedman’s wealth has plummeted to $ 4 billion since the start of the Ukrainian invasion, according to Bloomberg, according to Insider.

“Recently, I didn’t know how to survive,” Friedman told Bloomberg. “I do not know. I do not really know.”

Fridman (unrelated to the Greek group Alpha Bank), a co-founder of London-based investment firm LetterOne and a former board member of the Russian banking firm Alfa-Bank, told Bloomberg that sanctions would mean disabling the last bank card he worked in the UK. .

Friedman, who lives in the UK, receives a monthly stipend of £ 2,500 ($ 3,300). To spend the money, the oligarchy must apply for a special license, which will be closely evaluated by the British government.

“My problems are disappearing compared to theirs,” Friedman told Bloomberg, referring to the Ukrainians in the conflict.

Friedman resigned from the board of directors of Alpha-Bank a day after the EU approved it. He also resigned from the Letterone Group, an investment firm he co-founded.

The Russian oligarch says he has good relations with the West because of his travels to Washington and the Alpha-Bank scholarship program he set up in 2004 for American, British and German citizens.

“I truly believe that we are very good friends in the Western world and cannot punish us.”

Friedman was one of the oligarchy targeted by Western sanctions aimed at punishing President Vladimir Putin for paralyzing Russia’s economy and invading Ukraine.