Russian oligarch Fridman is negotiating for Ukrainian citizenship, - head of the NAPC Novikov
Mikhail Fridman, a Russian oligarch and co-owner of Alfa Group, is consulting with the Ukrainian authorities to obtain Ukrainian citizenship.
This was stated by the Head of National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) Oleksandr Novilov in an interview with the publication "Forbes Ukraine", іnforms Censor.NЕТ.
"As far as I know, Mikhail Fridman is consulting with the Ukrainian authorities about obtaining Ukrainian citizenship and re-registering his main assets in Ukraine. Such a scenario is also possible for other major Russian businessmen of Ukrainian origin, such as Viktor Vekselberg, who was born in Drogobych," Novikov said.
He expressed the opinion that granting citizenship to Russian oligarchs would be beneficial to Ukraine because they would pay taxes here.
"Financing the destruction of Putin's regime at the expense of Russian oligarchs is probably the best thing Ukraine can do under such circumstances," the head of the NAPC said.
At the same time, Novikov spoke about the development by the Office of the President of a mechanism allowing Russian oligarchs to have sanctions lifted against them.
"The Ermak-McFaul group will soon work out a framework for the further actions of sanctioned individuals and a possible procedure for getting out from under sanctions, including by transferring funds or assets to a repentance fund. The idea is still under discussion. The final decision will be made by the Ukrainian president," Novikov said.
As reported earlier, the Office of the Prosecutor General announced the seizure of assets of Fridman's Cypriot companies in Ukraine totaling more than 12.4 billion hryvnias.
According to Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova, Fridman and businessmen under his control used Alfa Bank and Cypriot companies to withdraw funds from Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian invasion, but were caught in the act while legalizing 1.1 billion hryvnias worth of assets.
