Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, longtime partners and key figures behind Alfa Group, were added to the U.S. sanctions list. The action was announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The designation appeared on the ministry’s site. The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) was also included in the sanctions roster, marking the first time the organization has faced U.S. sanctions.
“The wealthy Russian elite must drop the illusion that they can do business as usual while the Kremlin wages war in Ukraine,” stated Adewale Adeyemo, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
Sanctions targeted Petr Aven, an Alfa Group shareholder and former board member, and Mikhail Fridman, a co‑founder and former Alfa Group board member.
German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev, who co‑founded Alfa Group and were once shareholders of Alfa Bank, were also restricted by U.S. authorities.
OFAC noted that participation in the Alfa Group Supervisory Board is tied to the sanctions regime. The report describes Aven as heading a Russian insurance company, Fridman as actively involved with the RSPP, Khan overseeing several construction entities, and Kuzmichev running an investment company.
The U.S. Treasury explained the RSPP sanctions by pointing to its role in supporting import substitution in Russia and its links to counter-sanctions actions.
In a statement, Alfa-Bank’s press office told RBC that the personal sanctions on Fridman and Aven did not disrupt the bank’s operations. The bankers stepped off the board in spring 2022 after their personal sanctions were announced by the UK, Canada, and the EU.
At present, Petr Aven holds about 12 percent of Alfa-Bank shares, while Mikhail Fridman owns roughly 33 percent. Khan and Kuzmichev exited as shareholders, with Khan leaving under London and Ottawa sanctions and Kuzmichev exiting under the EU-wide measures.
Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman challenged the EU sanctions in court, arguing against the penalties.
Meanwhile, the EU had sanctioned Aven on February 28, 2022, labeling him one of Vladimir Putin’s closest oligarchs and a trusted ally of Rosneft’s Igor Sechin. The bloc argued that Aven leverages power ties to support Kremlin-aligned investments and profits from relationships tied to Crimea’s annexation and Ukraine destabilization.
Reports indicated that Aven and Fridman were implicated in Kremlin efforts to ease U.S. sanctions to back Russia’s foreign policy moves in Ukraine. The EU also suggested that Putin rewarded Alfa Group’s loyalty by backing its overseas investment plans.
British officials described Aven as a prominent Russian businessman with pro-Kremlin associations. He responded by saying that while he did not claim a closeness to Putin, doing business in Russia requires engagement with the president. He rejected the notion that sanctions were triggered by routine meetings and insisted he never represented himself as Putin’s protégé. He also dismissed the EU’s statements as misrepresentations from Europe aimed at justifying sanctions.
The controversy expanded when a letter from Leonid Volkov, the former head of the Anti‑Corruption Foundation, surfaced. Volkov had previously been listed as a foreign agent in Russia and purportedly asked Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, to lift sanctions on Alfa Group leaders. Volkov later stated that his action was a political misstep. Following these events, sanctions remained in place and Volkov resigned from his post at the organization.