Usmanov and Fridman are exactly the kind of Russian business figures who need to find the courage to take concrete steps against the war. This was emphasized by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Head of State believes that discussions about easing sanctions against Russian businesses that support the war against Ukraine are unacceptable, especially against the backdrop of Russia’s escalating actions and its systematic attacks on Ukrainian and international businesses that can help people withstand the conditions of war. Since the beginning of the day, Russian occupiers have already launched nearly 500 “shaheds.”
“The Russians are burning warehouses with food and gas stations, pharmaceutical facilities and ordinary passenger trains, residential buildings and civilian businesses. Just in the past few days, they have struck a steel plant owned by an Indian business, an American company that produced sunflower oil, and a Polish company that manufactured plumbing fixtures. Russian attacks have targeted truck parking lots, ports, shopping malls, and energy infrastructure,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
According to the President, the Russians have expanded this war from the front lines, where they cannot achieve success, into the economic sphere, seeking to break our resistance by inflicting damage on the Ukrainian economy. It is important that such Russian strikes be met with justified responses.
“Russian businesses that pay taxes into the war budget, and Russian oligarchs without whom Putin’s system is impossible to imagine, must feel that there is no place in the world where they can live in peace and quiet for as long as this war continues,” the Head of State emphasized.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is certain that sanctions must continue to work in a way that creates a clear demand from Russian businesses toward the Russian leadership to end the war and Russia’s policy of hatred toward its neighbors and Europe, especially as Russia uses every euro and dollar to prolong the war.
“Usmanov and Fridman are exactly the kind of Russian business figures who need to find the courage to take concrete steps against the war. This is exactly the kind of Russian economy that should not be given additional opportunities while the Ukrainian economy is suffering from Russian terror and Putin’s refusal to stop the war,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, and Japan have imposed personal sanctions on Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, with Switzerland imposing sanctions on Fridman.
The President emphasized that sanctions and comprehensive pressure must continue to be strengthened in response to the war Russia unleashed. And easing restrictions on the aggressor only weakens Ukraine.