Vedomosti: businessman Friedman demanded $15.8 billion from Luxembourg due to frozen assets
The Vedomosti newspaper, citing informed sources, reports that Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman demanded from the Luxembourg government compensation for assets “expropriated” by the country.
The publication indicated that Friedman threatened the Luxembourg leadership with international arbitration if he was not paid compensation in the amount of $15.8 billion, or 1.4 trillion rubles As noted in the newspaper, this is the amount he estimated at the total value of the assets frozen in the country as part of the implementation of EU sanctions, given that he owns stakes in a number of Luxembourg companies, through which he invested in various jurisdictions and sectors.
Friedman claims that by blocking his assets, Luxembourg violated the 1989 bilateral investment treaty between Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as the Soviet Union (and Russia as its successor). Its text states that investors' investments cannot be expropriated or nationalized and such measures must be accompanied by compensation paid to investors without delay in freely convertible currency.