Andrey Melnichenko.Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
One of Russia’s richest men, Andrey Melnichenko, said the Ukraine war had made him a “pariah”.
Melnichenko now lives in the United Arab Emirates, where his $300 million motor yacht A is moored.
His $578 million sailing yacht A was seized by Italian authorities shortly after it was sanctioned.
One of Russia’s richest people said he had become a “pariah” in the United Arab Emirates, where he fled following sanctions.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Financial Times, Andrey Melnichenko condemned the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on his personal life, while saying there were “war crimes on both sides” in the conflict.
Melnichenko was sanctioned in March last year after attending a roundtable of Russian business representatives hosted by Vladimir Putin in February.
The businessman, who made his money from coal and fertilizer, previously said he only found out he had been sanctioned when he read about it in the news.
“I don’t make weapons for war. I produce food for people and energy for power plants around the world. I don’t support war. I am not involved in politics. What’s that supposed to mean?” Melnichenko told the FT.
Melnichenko docked his $300 million motor yacht A in the United Arab Emirates last year. His $578 million sailing yacht A was seized by Italian authorities shortly after it was sanctioned.
According to Forbes, his net worth more than doubled to about $25 billion after the invasion and subsequent sanctions against Russia led to a spike in fertilizer prices.
Sanctions against Russian oligarchs have changed the lives of several influential billionaires who previously spent much of their time in the West.
For example, according to Le Monde, Roman Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea FC, had to sell the club and now lives in Israel.
According to the Guardian’s analysis of Bloomberg Billionaires Index data, oligarchs lost a total of $95 billion in assets last year.
Last week, the Financial Times reported that tech billionaire Arkady Volozh had appealed sanctions imposed on him by the EU, just days after he first criticized the war.
Oleg Tinkov managed to have sanctions against him lifted in the United Kingdom after he criticized Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and received the support of British business tycoon Richard Branson.
Read the original article on Business Insider