Kirstin Ridley and Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi by Danielle Kaye

LONDON/ZURICH/NEW YORK – Yevgeny Chichvarkin (a Russian telecoms tycoon) has long supported Ukraine. He fled Russia in 2008 to become a prominent London restaurateur.

The multimillionaire, along with Tatiana Fokina his wife, has said he sent four trucksloads of protective and medical equipment to Poland in support of the Ukrainians after the Russian invasion.

Chichvarkin is a muscular man who has a waxed moustache and was burly.

However, the 48-yearold entrepreneur, who has been a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies, stated that one of his Swiss bank accounts was suddenly frozen. He refused to specify which bank.

Chichvarkin, one of the growing numbers of Russians in foreign countries who have difficulty accessing their money, even though they’re not directly targeted by Western sanctions.

Interviews conducted by Reuters with nine Russians living abroad – and their wealth managers as well, lawyers, tax advisors, accountants, real-estate brokers, and wealth managers – indicate that Western sanctions designed to punish Putin’s inner circle also severely ensnare Russian passport holders.

Russians with dual citizenship living abroad described how banks had frozen their bank accounts and payments to London, Zurich, Paris. One wealthy émigré in London said he had switched to cash to make purchases and was keeping a low profile.

Zwei wealth advisors, and one lawyer explained why Russian clients were not allowed to apply for bank accounts. Russian money was being handled extra cautiously by banks, according to the statements. A third broker said there were some stalled art and real property deals.

Canadian-American lawyer claimed that Russian clients are afraid of taking international trips due to fear of being stopped by customs. Western banks also cast suspicion over Russian money, including donations to charity. No longer are dual passports as an escape path.

“I am dealing with Russians who can’t get out of hotels, students who have no money because credit cards are valueless,” said Bob Amsterdam, a founding partner of Washington- and London-based law firm Amsterdam & Partners. 

Amsterdam, who is located in London said that Russian banks have refused to open Russian accounts. They are also closing the doors on Russian nationality. The City’s leading law firms have shut their doors to Russians on the basis of nationality.

“YOU MUST BE VERY Quiet”

A number of lawyers representing rich Russians spoke out about the pervasive distrust. Due to the fact that Russia is being scrutinized, no matter where they live or how wealthy, one tax and wealth planning expert asked not to be named.

According to the Zurich lawyer who is a dual Russian-British citizen and runs a law office, “Currently, all that is Russian has toxic properties, so everyone is trying very, extremely cautious in terms of how to deal with Russian clients.”

Journalist Elena Servettaz, a dual citizen who has lived in France since 2005, said French bank Crédit Mutuel rejected a transfer of less than 1,000 euros to her account — money sent to her from London to support Ukrainian refugee aid efforts.

The bank informed Servettaz that the transaction was flagged because of her Russian citizenship. Servettaz was able to receive the funds more than a week after she called.

“It’s unfair to be part of the Russian Opposition, because you’re supporting Ukrainian Refugees, but they’re telling you that you’re Russian, so your money can’t go,” Servettaz stated.

Crédit Mutuel said that European banks were obliged to apply “the greatest prudence” in scrutinising transactions that could be affected by E.U. It warned that extra checks could cause delay in ensuring compliance and suggested that there might be additional costs to do so. However, it did its best to minimise the negative effects to customers.

A Crédit Mutuel spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the situation relating to Servetta “was quickly resolved once the customer sent us the requested information.”

Reuters reports this month that the European Union regulators instructed some banks to inspect transactions made by Russian and Belarusian customers, as well as EU residents.

A number of wealth managers from Europe want to be free from political and economic turmoil. According to two people familiar with the matter, Julius Baer in Switzerland has blocked new Russian business this month. Ralph Hamers, CEO of UBS said that all Russian passport holders are now semi-sanctioned.

Julius Baer stated that it would not accept new Russian clients with Russian domiciles, but was continuing to provide services for existing Russian clients in compliance with any applicable laws and regulations.

Grigory Chkhartishvili from Russia, a writer who lives and works in London. His last name is Georgian. He successfully transferred some money through a British bank Barclays (LON:), to help his Ukrainian refugee aid charity, True Russia.

Barclays stopped his wife from sending money to the charity. His last name was Russian. Bank requested an interview face-to–face with her.

Chkhartishvili explained that my sum was tenfold greater, but this was not a problem. It shows the atmosphere.

Chkhartishvili claimed that Chkhartishvili’s wife had declined to speak to Reuters. He asked her to keep her identity private.

Barclays didn’t respond to our request for comment.

One Russian bank and oil magnate who is wealthy said that he feels he has been “collateral damage” by Russia’s invasion. Moscow refers to it as a “special operations”.

He said that despite being based in London for over 30 years, he had Russian businesses and worried about financial sanctions.

He said that he had some savings and was looking into selling European assets. “You have to make a living off of money… you need to be extremely quiet.”

‘RUSSOPHOBIA’

Chichvarkin is seated in basement of The White Horse pub, one of his latest ventures. It’s located in London’s Mayfair district. He says he feels confident that his lawyers will unfreeze the Swiss bank account.

According to him, it’s the only one of his accounts that was frozen. It is believed that he only opened it with a Russian passport.

Chichvarkin also believes that his and his wife’s resistance to Putin’s war and their support for Ukraine have helped their businesses withstand anti-Russian hostility from customers, and other publics, sparked by “Putin’s war”.

Fokina’s assistant stated that their Michelin-starred restaurant Hide, which they also own with wine shop Hedonism wines, received a one star Google (NASDAQ;) review approximately two weeks into this war.

Below 1,767 reviews that gave the restaurant an average rating of 4.5 stars, one review was very poor. The comment simply stated: “Russian owned”. Since then, it has been deleted.

Fokina said, “You’ve heard about people cancelling Tchaikovsky concert and people vandalizing Russian food shops.” This is London 2022. We are amazed at how fast we got here.