Putin's favorite oligarch. Who is Alisher Usmanov and how did he get rid of EU sanctions

Today, 04:55◉ 02 min readEditorial team “SHCHO STALOSIA”

In the first days and weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian oligarchs, who for years earned billions servicing the "Kremlin towers", fell one after another under the sanctions of the United States, the EU and Britain. At first, Mikhail Friedman, Piotr Aven, Andriy Melnychenko, Alisher Usmanov complained that they "did not know how to live under restrictions", compari…

Putin's favorite oligarch. Who is Alisher Usmanov and how did he get rid of EU sanctions

And then they simultaneously began a systematic work to exclude themselves from the "black" lists: from lawsuits to lobbying through "friendly" governments and businessties.

How did the former fencer Usmanov become one of Putin's main metallurgical wallets and turned sports into a "soft power" of the Russian Federation? And how did he use business interests in the Turkic world to lift sanctions?

Usmanov was born in 1953 in the Uzbek city of Chust in the family of the future prosecutor of Tashkent. After reading "The Three Musketeers" by Dumas, Alisher was fond of fencing since childhood, later he joined the USSR national team and met his future wife Irina Wiener, a long-term coach of the Russian national team in rhythmic gymnastics.

In the early 1970s, Usmanov studied international law at the Moscow Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) together with the future spokesman of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, and billionaire Fattakh Shodiev.

Details

In 1980, 26-year-old Usmanov was sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud and complicity in receiving a bribe. His friends also received the verdict: the son of the deputy head of the KGB of Uzbekistan and the son of the Minister of Agriculture. Six years later, Alisher was released on parole for “sincere remorse” and “exemplary behavior.”

Context

EP wrote about the native of Lviv Friedman in the context of his once main Ukrainian assets – Kyivstar and the nationalized former Alfa-Bank (now Sense Bank), and the UP found an oligarch in London in 2023.

"For me, Moscow then seemed to be the center of the universe – theaters, ballet, restaurants, beautiful girls. I discovered everything that could be discovered," the billionaire told the FT in 2020.

What's next

In order to once again extend sanctions for violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, the EU, under pressure from Slovakia and (unexpectedly) France, on September 22, exempted Usmanov from the restrictions altogether, and at the request of Luxembourg – Friedman.