THE RUSSIAN-ISRAELI OLIGARCH MAP: ABRAMOVICH, FRIDMAN, AVEN, KHAN, KANTOR — AND THE SANCTIONS ASTERISK
Abramovich, Fridman, Aven, Khan, Kantor. The post-2022 sanctions wave that reshuffled the post-Soviet Jewish billionaire class — and the Israeli portion of the diaspora that now carries an asterisk most prior waves did not.
By Olam Editorial · Edited Jun 27, 2026
The 2022-2025 Western sanctions wave reshuffled the post-Soviet Jewish billionaire class structurally. Several of the most prominent Russian-born Jewish billionaires of the 1990s-2000s privatization era — most of whom held Israeli citizenship as a hedge or as a substantive identity marker — are now sanctioned by some combination of the UK, EU, and US. The Israeli portion of the post-Soviet billionaire diaspora now carries an asterisk most prior waves did not.
The Russian-Israeli Sanctions Map 2026
| Principal | Vehicle / Position | UK | EU | US | Pre-sanctions est. wealth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roman Abramovich | Former Chelsea FC owner; Israeli citizen 2018 | Sanctioned Mar 2022 | Sanctioned Mar 2022 | Not formally sanctioned | ~$13.6B (Bloomberg) |
| Mikhail Fridman | Alfa Group co-founder; dual Russian-Israeli | Sanctioned Mar 2022 | Sanctioned Feb 2022; partial Apr 2024 court ruling | Sanctioned Aug 2023 | Multi-billion |
| Petr Aven | Alfa Group co-founder | — | Sanctioned Feb 2022; partial Apr 2024 court ruling | Sanctioned Aug 2023 | Multi-billion |
| German Khan | Alfa Group co-founder | — | Sanctioned | — | Multi-billion |
| Moshe Kantor | President emeritus, European Jewish Congress | Sanctioned | Sanctioned | — | Multi-billion |
| Mikhael Mirilashvili | Watergen founder; gaming, real estate | Not sanctioned | Not sanctioned | Not sanctioned | Multi-billion |
The Sanctions Map
Roman Abramovich — UK sanctioned March 2022, EU sanctioned March 2022. US has not formally sanctioned. Israeli citizen since 2018 (acquired after UK visa renewal complications). Chelsea Football Club sold under forced terms in 2022 for £4.25 billion; proceeds remain frozen pending humanitarian-fund distribution disputes. Estimated pre-sanctions net worth approximately $13.6 billion per Bloomberg.
Mikhail Fridman — UK sanctioned March 2022, EU sanctioned February 2022, US sanctioned August 2023, Ukraine sanctioned September. Co-founder of Alfa Group, one of Russia's largest private conglomerates. Dual Russian-Israeli citizen. Fled the UK to Russia via Israel in October 2023. The UK National Crime Agency dropped a sanctions evasion probe in September. Won a partial EU General Court ruling in April 2024 that struck down EU sanctions for the February 2022-March 2023 period, though subsequent EU sanctions renewals remain in place.
Petr Aven — EU sanctioned February 2022, US sanctioned August 2023. Alfa Group co-founder. Won the same April 2024 EU General Court partial ruling as Fridman. German Khan — EU sanctioned. Alfa Group co-founder. Moshe Kantor — sanctioned, including by the UK and EU. President emeritus of the European Jewish Congress. Severed longstanding philanthropic ties to Tel Aviv University and other institutions in 2022 amid sanctions pressure.
The Israeli Position
Israel has not imposed sanctions on any Russian oligarchs. The Israeli government's posture across 2022-2025 has been to maintain diplomatic balance — a position complicated by the country's post-October 7 dependence on Western diplomatic and military support, by its substantial Russian-speaking Jewish population, and by its established philanthropic relationships with several of the sanctioned individuals.
Operational restrictions inside Israel have nonetheless tightened. Private aircraft belonging to sanctioned individuals are limited to 48 hours on the ground. Individual banks have refused to process certain transactions — Mizrahi-Tefahot refused an Abramovich donation of NIS 8 million to ZAKA in November 2024, prompting a Tel Aviv court order in August 2024 requiring the transfer to proceed. The case became one of the more visible tests of how Israeli courts and financial institutions handle sanctioned Russian-Israeli wealth.
The Mirilashvili Exception
Mikhael Mirilashvili — Russian-Israeli, Watergen founder, with substantial gaming and real estate interests — has not been sanctioned by any Western jurisdiction. He has been operationally active in Israel through both his business and philanthropic interests (Watergen has donated atmospheric-water-generation units across Israeli, Ukrainian, and other humanitarian contexts since 2022). Mirilashvili demonstrates the diversity within the Russian-Israeli billionaire cohort — not all are sanctioned, and operational status varies substantially.
The Philanthropic Aftermath
The 2022 sanctions wave caused significant disruption to the Russian-Israeli philanthropic infrastructure that had been built across the 2000s and 2010s. The Genesis Philanthropy Group — co-founded by Fridman, Aven, Khan, and others, with a $100 million endowment and the Genesis Prize annual award — saw its sanctioned co-founders resign from the board in 2022 "to assure the ability of GPG to stay true to its mission." The group has continued operating with reorganized leadership.
Yad Vashem suspended a reported tens-of-millions-of-dollars Abramovich donation in 2022 citing "recent developments." Tel Aviv University lost Moshe Kantor as a major donor. Multiple Jewish federations and Israeli institutions had to navigate the question of how to receive (or return) past gifts from now-sanctioned donors. The infrastructure has been substantially rebuilt but with reorganized donor compositions and increased Western legal review.
Where the Capital Sits Now
Tracking where the post-Soviet Jewish billionaire wealth actually sits after the sanctions wave is one of the open questions of the 2022-2026 period. Frozen assets: substantial portions of UK, EU, and US holdings have been frozen — yachts, real estate, equity stakes in Western companies, banking deposits. Russian holdings: Alfa Group, Norilsk Nickel stakes (Vladimir Potanin is non-Jewish but represents the broader pattern), and other Russian operating businesses have continued under Russian jurisdiction.
Israel, UAE, Cyprus, and other non-sanctioning jurisdictions absorb the remainder. Some sanctioned individuals have relocated physically to these jurisdictions; others have moved assets while remaining in Russia. The reorganization of post-Soviet Jewish wealth across this map is the structural reality of the post-2022 environment.
What It Means
The Russian-Israeli oligarch class is a smaller portion of total Jewish capital than the American hedge fund, private equity, or family office layers — but its disruption has produced the most visible legal and institutional restructuring of any wealth segment over the past four years. The reorganization is ongoing. The asterisk on this portion of the diaspora is durable; the question is what the cohort's second generation looks like under sustained sanctions conditions.
The capital is real. The institutions are named. The data is the receipt.
Part of the Olam Jewish Capital cluster. Hub: Mapping Jewish Capital 2026. Related: The Israeli Billionaires · The Family Offices & Dynasties · Who's Banking the Diaspora (Diaspora Economy cluster).
