The billionaire Mikhail Fridman and Russia’s former Minister of Foreign Economic Relations Petr Aven are listed as shareholders of the banking and financial services holding firm. 

Both men were placed on the UK Sanctions List in March 2022 in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with their roles at ABH Holding cited among the reasons given for their inclusion.  

The company was deemed to be an “entity carrying on business in a sector of strategic significance to the Government of Russia, namely the Russian financial services sector,” the U.K. government said at the time. Fridman and Aven’s involvement in Russian banking giant Alfa Group was also referenced in the official reasoning for imposing sanctions on the pair.

The pair also remain under the European Union’s sanctions regime, despite a successful legal challenge in the EU’s general court in April 2024. The court ruled that the bloc was not justified in imposing restrictive measures on them, but the ruling only applies between February 2022 and mid-March 2023, meaning they remain sanctioned. 

Fridman has launched multiple legal challenges against European governments over the sanction decisions via the Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS), which allow foreign investors to sue host countries over regulations that affect their businesses. 

Previously listed among Russia’s richest citizens, he brought an ISDS case against the government of Luxembourg for €16 billion, in response to the sanctions against his business interests. He has also used the arbitration mechanism to bring several cases against the government of Ukraine.