\n<\/p>\n
A business associate of the oligarch Roman Abramovich has failed to overturn sanctions imposed on him after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, after a supreme court judgment seen as a test case for the UK\u2019s sanctions regime.<\/p>\n
Eugene Shvidler served on the board of companies owned by the former owner of Chelsea football club and now lives in the US. He was placed under sanctions by the UK government in March 2022 as part of measures to target Russia-linked oligarchs and officials after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Shvidler, who was born in the USSR in 1964, grew up in Moscow but is now a British citizen, had challenged his designation at the high court in 2023 and then appealed against that decision last year. He argued the measures caused disproportionate hardship and discriminated against him as a Russian-born person, while also claiming he was not closely associated enough to Abramovich to justify the Foreign Office\u2019s move.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, a majority decision of four supreme court justices to one dismissed the businessman\u2019s appeal, saying that sanctions had to be tough to be effective.<\/p>\n
The judgment stated: \u201cSanctions often have to be severe and open-ended if they are to be effective. The object of the designation in relation to Mr Shvidler is that he should so far as possible be disabled from enjoying his assets and pursuing his wealthy lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judges added: \u201cWe accept that [the government\u2019s] evidence establishes that there is a rational connection between the designation of Mr Shvidler and the aim of this sanction \u2026 as the courts \u2026 correctly recognised in Mr Shvidler\u2019s case, the effectiveness of a sanctions regime depends on the cumulative effect of the measures imposed under that regime. The imposition of sanctions in relation to Mr Shvidler contributes to that cumulative effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, in a 20-page dissenting judgment, Lord Leggatt said he disagreed with the majority\u2019s decision that the sanctions were lawful, describing it as \u201cOrwellian\u201d and arguing he did not consider the government had shown a rational connection between the freezing of Shvidler\u2019s assets and the objective of sanctions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not consider that the reasons relied on by the government come close to justifying such a drastic curtailment of his liberty,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Shvidler said: \u201cThis supreme court judgment brings me back to the USSR, which I left as a stateless refugee 36 years ago, seeking sanctuary in the US. Back then, individuals could be stripped of their rights with little or no protections and that is how I feel about this judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UK government imposed sanctions on Shvidler on grounds including that he was associated with Abramovich, who in turn had obtained a benefit from or supported the government of Russia. The Foreign Office argued the men were associated because Shvidler was a long-serving director of Evraz, a steel and mining company in which Abramovich was a leading shareholder. It said he had also served as chair of Millhouse LLC, the Moscow-based arm of the UK company that managed assets for Abramovich and Shvidler himself.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n
Sign up to Business Today<\/span><\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n In a related case, the judges unanimously dismissed an appeal by Dalston Projects Ltd, a St Kitts and Nevis company that owns a luxury yacht that has been detained at a London dock. The ultimate owner of the yacht is Sergei Naumenko, a Russian citizen and resident who said he had been prevented from earning substantial income from chartering the vessel.<\/p>\n Quick Guide<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.<\/p>\n If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/strong><\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS\/Android) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post<\/strong><\/p>\n See our guide at theguardian.com\/tips\u00a0for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each.\u00a0<\/p>\n Illustration: Guardian Design \/ Rich Cousins<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A business associate of the oligarch Roman Abramovich has failed to overturn sanctions imposed on him after Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, after a supreme court judgment seen as a test case for the UK\u2019s sanctions regime. Eugene Shvidler served on the board of companies owned by the former owner of Chelsea football club and now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[6669,2106,303,6670,6325,6672,3604,6671],"class_list":{"0":"post-12962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-abramovich","9":"tag-associate","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-eugene","12":"tag-fails","13":"tag-overturn","14":"tag-sanctions","15":"tag-shvidler"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Contact us about this story<\/h4>\n