The Russian oligarch owner of Dia after the sanctions for the war in Ukraine: "I don't have to live"

• Direct War in Ukraine, latest news

The Russian oligarch

supermarkets,

assures in an exclusive interview with

that after the sanctions imposed by the Russian invasion in Ukraine he is ruined.

, 57, was born and raised in the Soviet Union, in the city of

, in modern-day western

.

He was a first wave oligarch, who made a fortune in banking and energy before the rise to power of

.

"I know every corner of Lviv," he assures

.

"I always thought Ukraine would resist."

The day the invasion began, according to the newspaper,

was in Moscow on a business trip.

He quickly returned to London, where he spent the next few days fielding frantic calls from the

.

He and his partners own one of the country's largest banks and have a stake in

's largest telecommunications operator , KyivStar.

The message he sent to his executives was clear: he uses all the company money he needs to ensure the safety of employees and their families.

Four days after the

, he was dragged out of a meeting by his lawyer with the news that the EU had sanctioned him and his business partner,

.

The lawyer listed what those sanctions entailed: travel bans, frozen accounts.

"He was in shock. He barely understood what he was saying," he says.

“I have never been in any state company or state position,” he says.

"If the people who are in charge in the EU think that because of the sanctions I could go up to

and tell him to stop the war, and it will work, then I'm afraid we all have a big problem. That means those who are taking these decisions do not understand anything about how

works . And that is dangerous for the future," he adds.

Fridman

had a fortune valued at

, according to

.

He is now worth around 10 billion and finds himself in the strange position of being a cashless oligarch.

When the UK and EU sanctioned

on March 15, his last working bank card in the UK was frozen.

"

," the businessman told Bloomberg.

"I don't know. I really don't know," he insists.

The billionaire, who lives in the UK, has an allowance of

a month and must apply for a license to spend money.

"My problems are nothing compared to their problems," he says, referring to Ukrainian citizens.

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