Banking conglomerate ABH Holdings, which is partly owned by Russian oligarch Mykhailo Fridman, has announced that it will sue the government of Ukraine if it nationalizes one of its banks in Ukraine, the magazine “New Voice of Ukraine” reports.

ABHH, which is based in Luxembourg, announced that it would invoke the provisions of the Bilateral Investment Treaty between Ukraine, Belgium and Luxembourg, which allow arbitration by an international court if one of the signatory states refuses to compensate the company for the loss of its investment.

Bank “Sens”, formerly called “Alfa Bank”, is one of the largest banks in Ukraine, which is part of the group of banks owned by Friedman. The company changed its name last July after numerous protests erupted in Ukraine over its ownership by Russian oligarchs.

What does the banking conglomerate of the Russian oligarch accuse

ABHH Group, which has this bank in its portfolio, says it is concerned about the law 9107-1 passed by the Ukrainian parliament, which allows the nationalization of banks owned by persons under sanctions.

“Therefore, ABHH will take appropriate measures, both in terms of domestic legislation and in terms of existing international treaties, to protect its investments and reduce losses. The new law is discriminatory and violates the standards of international law regarding fairness to investors,” the banking conglomerate said in a press release.

“The nationalization of JSC Sense Bank will lead to losses for both bondholders and shareholders of ABHH,” he says, also recalling that among its shareholders is a charity in the US that invests in research to cure cancer, as well as the main bank in Europe.

As for ABHH, the main shareholder of the banking conglomerate is Mykhailo Fridman, who owns 32.86% of its shares. His close associate oligarch Peter Aven owns 12.4% of the group’s shares.

In March, the couple announced plans to sell their stake in Alfa Bank, a move analysts saw as an attempt to avoid Western sanctions. Alfa Bank is the largest private bank in Russia.

As Mykhailo Fridman complained that he could no longer afford to live in London

Friedman came to international attention after complaining last year that he was living on just £2,500 a month following the imposition of Western sanctions and that the West had forgotten his “good deeds”.

Both the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions against him. Friedman was born in Ukraine, made his fortune in Russia, and then moved to Great Britain, living in London since 2015.

Friedman said in an interview with Bloomberg after the start of the Russian invasion and the imposition of Western sanctions against him that “I honestly believed that we were such good friends of the Western world that we could not be punished.”

In this regard, the oligarch reminded that “Alfa’s scholarship program probably has hundreds of graduates, many of them successful people.”

In March of last year, when asked why he did not simply leave Russia and sell Alfa Group, since he had already made a significant fortune, Friedman replied that “it is not easy to sell such a large company.”

“Also, I’m emotionally attached to the company I built from the ground up,” he added.

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