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☆ Russian billionaire Fridman loses challenge over mansion upkeep
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Sanctioned Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman cannot spend thousands of pounds a month on the upkeep of his London mansion, containing a 44 million-pound ($53.2 million) art collection, London's High Court ruled on Thursday. The 59-year-old also wanted to spend 1,850 pounds a month on communications systems, which Fridman said regulate Athlone House's telephones, IT, lighting, heating and security. Athlone House, in north London, was raided by Britain's National Crime Agency in December, which is the subject of a separate legal challenge by Fridman. The Russian billionaire, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes magazine at $12.8 billion, has been subject to British sanctions since March 2022, a month after Russia invaded Ukraine. His designation under Britain's sanctions regime was updated in September to remove a reference to him being a "pro-Kremlin oligarch".

Persons: Mikhail Fridman, Sergei Karpukhin, Fridman, Judge Pushpinder Saini, Fridman's, OFSI, Saini, Sam Tobin, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: Alfa Group, Russian, Industrialists, Entrepreneurs, REUTERS, Athlone, Athlone House, Britain's National Crime Agency, Forbes, Thomson Locations: Russian Union, Moscow, Russia, Russian, Athlone, Britain, Israel, London, Ukraine

☆ German sanctions officers raid Russian citizen's properties in Bavaria
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Russian businessman and founder of USM Holdings Alisher Usmanov attends a session during the Week of Russian Business, organized by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), in Moscow, Russia March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBERLIN, Oct 5 (Reuters) - German police and customs officers on Thursday searched several properties in southern Germany belonging to a Russian national in relation to assets frozen under European Union sanctions, customs officials said. A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov was the target of the operation. A special commission dubbed "Matryoshka", set up by the German customs authority's sanctions office, said in a statement that officers searched properties in greater Munich and Tegernsee in Bavaria. The German customs authority's special commission said it was acting on court search warrants.

Persons: Usmanov, Sergei Karpukhin, Miranda Murray, Joern Poltz, Rachel More, Friederike Heine, Bernadette Baum Organizations: USM Holdings, Russian, Industrialists, Entrepreneurs, REUTERS, Rights, Union, Reuters, Usmanov, Thomson Locations: Russian Union, Moscow, Russia, Germany, Russian, Uzbek, Ukraine, Munich, Tegernsee, Bavaria, Rottach

The attacks are forcing Russian tourists to reconsider their plans. Popular destinationCrimea has always been popular with Russian tourists, many of whom remember vacationing there during Soviet times. After Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, a number of countries closed their doors to Russian tourists. Crimea suddenly became one of the few sunny beach destinations Russian tourists could still visit without having to spend a lot of money. The attack was frightening enough to scare away many of the Russian tourists who had still been planning to come.

Persons: Oleksii Reznikov, Svitlana, “, ”, Olga Maltseva, hasn’t, Iryna Vereshchuk, Putin, ” Svitlana, Vladimir Konstantinov, ATOR, ” Reznikov, Reznikov, Volodymyr Zelensky, –, ” Zelensky Organizations: CNN, Kyiv’s, “, Getty, Crimean Ministry of Resorts, Tourism, Russian Union of Travel Industry, Ukraine’s, Moscow, European Union, Association of Russian, Kyiv, Security Service of Ukraine, State Council of, Russian, Fleet, Crimean Human Rights Group Locations: Crimea, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Moscow, Russia, Russian, St . Petersburg, AFP, Yalta, Kerch, EU, Europe, Turkey, Sochi, Republic of Crimea, Crimean, Sevastopol, Kyiv

☆ Tour operators in Crimea are begging holidaymakers to stay after a bridge attack left a Russian couple dead
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tourists are fleeing the popular holiday destination Crimea as it becomes increasingly militarized. Tour operators are begging tourists to stay and not be swayed by their "emotions," CNN reported. But a drone attack on Monday left a Russian couple dead and their 14-year-old daughter injured. Hour-long traffic jams started forming on Tuesday as Russian tourists tried to drive out of Crimea, a popular holiday destination on the Black Sea coast, Reuters reported. On Monday, fighting continued to escalate after a drone attack on the Kerch bridge — which connects Russia and Crimea — killed a couple, Reuters reported.

Persons: Elena Bazhenova, Bazhenova, Crimea —, Vladimir Putin, Ilya Ymansky Organizations: CNN, Service, Reuters, BBC, Hotels, Russian Union of Travel Industry Locations: Crimea, Russian, Wall, Silicon, Russia, Ukraine, Kerch, Kyiv, Europe

CNN —Russian tour operators are pleading with vacationers to Crimea not to make decisions “based on emotions,” as Ukraine’s strike on the Crimea bridge on Monday played havoc on travel between the occupied Ukrainian peninsula and Russia. Hundreds of cars were waiting Tuesday to cross the bridge both to and from Crimea, and Russian-backed officials were encouraging drivers to travel along the land route through occupied southern Ukraine. Or we shift their reservations in Crimea to later dates.”Road traffic over the Crimea bridge resumed overnight over one of the bridge’s four lanes, but there is heavy traffic. TASS reported that bus services from Rostov, in southern Russia, to Crimea had been restored – via southern Ukraine, rather than over the Crimea bridge. A tourist from the Russian city of Rostov told the Russian tourism website Tourdom about her experience driving to Crimea.

Persons: “, ” Elena Bazhenova, ”, ” Bazhenova, Multitour, ” Kizey, Viktor Korotaev, ” Denis Pushilin, ” Ilya Umansky Organizations: CNN, Russian Union of Tourist Industry, Tourists, AP Rail, Novosti, TASS, Russian Union of Travel Industry, Crimean Locations: Russian, Crimea, Ukrainian, Russia, Ukraine, Kerch, Russia’s Krasnodar, –, Krasnodar Territory, Moscow, Ukraine’s Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mariupol, Donetsk People’s Republic, Chonhar, Ukraine’s Kherson, Rostov, Alushta

☆ Russian tourists flee Crimea after attack on landmark bridge
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] A train moves along the Crimean Bridge, a section of which was damaged by an alleged overnight attack, as seen from the city of Kerch, Crimea, July 17, 2023. State-run news agency RIA said a tailback of more than 5 km (3 miles) had formed as Russian tourists made for home - using the Chonhar bridge, which was briefly put out of action by a missile attack last month. Moscow blamed the attack on the Crimean bridge, the second since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine, on Kyiv. HOLIDAY CANCELLATIONS MOUNT UPKyiv says Russian tourists - more than 9 million of whom visited in 2021 - have no business holidaying on seized territory, especially while Ukraine is being bombed. The 19-km (12-mile) Crimean Bridge, a prestige project for President Vladimir Putin, is the route most Russian tourists choose to reach the peninsula, as well as a supply route for the Russian army in Ukraine.

Persons: Alexey Pavlishak, RIA, Vladimir Saldo, Elena Bazhenova, Crimea's, Ilya Umansky, Vladimir Putin, Andrew Osborn, Kevin Liffey Organizations: REUTERS, Kyiv, Russian Union of Travel Industry, Thomson Locations: Kerch, Crimea, Ukraine, Russia, MOSCOW, State, Moscow, Kyiv, Ukrainian, Russian, Ukraine's Kherson, Simferopol

Russia has 110 official billionaires in the list, up 22 from last year, according to Forbes' Russian edition, which said their total wealth increased to $505 billion from $353 billion when the 2022 list was announced. "Last year's rating results were also influenced by apocalyptic predictions about the Russian economy," Forbes said, adding that the total wealth of Russia's billionaires was $606 billion in 2021, before the war began. The price of Urals oil, the lifeblood of the Russian economy, averaged $76.09 per barrel in 2022, up from $69 in 2021. Many Russian billionaires cast Western sanctions as a clumsy, and even racist, tool. New Russian names in the Forbes list include billionaires who made their money in snacks, supermarkets, chemicals, building and pharmaceuticals, indicating that Russian domestic demand has remained strong despite the sanctions.

☆ Putin tells Russia's billionaires to put patriotism before profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a forum of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) in Moscow, Russia, March 16, 2023. MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin urged Russia's billionaires on Thursday to put patriotism before profit, telling them to invest at home to shore up the economy in the face of Western sanctions. Addressing Russia's business elite in person for the first time since the day he sent his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, Putin told them their role was not just to make money but to support society. Last month he told business leaders that ordinary Russians had no sympathy for the confiscation of their yachts and palaces. ECONOMY RESISTS SANCTIONSThe president said on Thursday that what he called an attempt to destroy Russia's economy with sanctions had failed.

☆ Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine can freeze their sperm for free says Putin's government: TASS
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine will have access to free sperm-freezing services. The offer applies to "those called up for military service as part of the partial mobilization." Soldiers want to freeze their sperm that their wives can access if they are killed in action, said local reports. The number of Russian soldiers killed or wounded fighting in Ukraine, where Putin's forces have experienced a series of military setbacks in more than 300 days of fighting, remains unclear. In November, a US military chief put the number of Russian soldiers killed or wounded at up to 100,000, according to CNN.

☆ Russia's mobilised troops entitled to free sperm freezing - TASS
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 28 (Reuters) - Russian troops who have been part of a mobilisation drive for military operations in Ukraine will have the right to get their sperm frozen for free in cryobanks, the state TASS agency reported on Wednesday. Citing Igor Trunov, president of the Russian Union of Lawyers, TASS reported that the Health Ministry responded to his appeal for budgetary assistance with the plan. Families can also use the stored biomaterial free of charge if their compulsory medical insurance indicates they can do so. Russia called up more than 300,000 reservists to support what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine in a mobilisation drive launched in September. Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Russia is on track to harvest a record grain crop of 150 million tonnes, including 100 million tonnes of wheat, in 2022. SANCTIONS CAUSE SOME LOSSESSovecon and another consultancy IKAR see December wheat exports at 4.0-4.2 million tonnes. That is close to the record of 4.3 million tonnes set in December, 2017, Sovecon said, adding that Russia exported 4.3 million tonnes of wheat in November. Sovecon expects Russia's July-December wheat exports at 22.9 million tonnes, up 2% year-on-year and equal to the average of the past five years. It estimates Russia's total 2022/23 grain exports at 56.1 million tonnes, including 43.7 million of wheat.

☆ EXCLUSIVE Russia seeks sanctions exemptions for state bank in Ukraine grain deal talks-sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

This would allow the bank, which has not had a major role in the international grain trade so far, to process payments for Russian grain and other foodstuffs, two of the sources added. Before the latest sanctions, such payments were handled by international banks and subsidiaries of other Russian banks in Switzerland. The U.N. has said it "remains committed to removing the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian food and fertilizer". BANK'S ROLE MAY EXPANDMoscow has said its consent to extend the Black Sea grain deal depends on support for its own grain and fertiliser exports. Should Russia's request be granted, Rosselkhozbank's role in Russia's grain trade could expand significantly.

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