Why is the son of billionaire Mikhail Fridman playing poor and offended by Ukraine?

Ukraine imposed sanctions against Alexander Orzhelsky, which puzzled him: the son of billionaire Friedman considers himself Ukrainian. He claims that he has to live modestly, although his companies in Russia (*aggressor country) earn billions. What is known about him? Why Friedman’s son was offended by Ukraine In the fall of 2022, the son of the founder of Alfa Bank Mikhail Fridman Alexander Orzelsky was publicly offended by the Ukrainian authorities who imposed sanctions on him, publishing a video message on YouTube in which he accused Kyiv of persecuting the guy only because of his father. Indeed, Alexander Ozhelsky was immediately included in three Ukrainian sanctions lists, each for a period of ten years, that is, until 2032. “I can’t believe that the only reason for these sanctions is my connection with another person.” [отцом].I believe that this decision should be reversed. I don’t deserve these sanctions. I consider myself a Ukrainian, I have relatives there, and I’m used to going there,” Orzelski complained. In addition, the guy said that as a sign of protest against “Russian aggression” he left Russia (*aggressor country) for a rented apartment in Dubai, which is why he lost his business. “I did this because I value my freedom more,” — then the fugitive explained. Alexander Orzelsky publicly distanced himself from his father, Mikhail Fridman, and was offended by Ukraine for being included in the local sanctions list Even before the start of the SVO, Friedman Jr. tried in every possible way to distance himself from his father. For example, in 2020, he gave an interview to reporters from Bloomberg, in which he described his life as an unmercenary: they say, his father will not leave his fortune to Orzelski (“the worst thing I can do for my children is to leave them a large sum of money.” — Mikhail Fridman), is not involved in any way in his son’s business activities, which is why the young businessman is forced to rent a one-room apartment in a panel house on the outskirts of Moscow for 30 thousand rubles a month and commute to work by metro. The guy’s performance on YouTube for some time became a real hit among the liberal public: it was discussed and supported by many foreign media outlets and propaganda platforms that hastily left abroad after the start of the SVO. The decision of the Independence authorities was then called controversial and even inadequate, but it seems that in Ukraine they knew for sure that Ozhelsky was only creating around himself the image of a son abandoned by his father. What kind of business does Orzelsky have? In Russia (*aggressor country), the 23-year-old businessman still owns four companies: two of them are engaged in real estate transactions, two of them sell various drinks and food products wholesale. At the same time, Ozhelsky’s main source of income is the SF Development company, supplier of X5 Retail Group stores (Perekrestok and Pyaterochka chains), 47.9% of whose shares were recently owned by Alfa Group. The panel high-rise building in which the oligarch’s son allegedly lived is located near the Botanical Garden metro station. Its area is no more than 45 square meters. Alexander Ozhelsky provided this photo to reporters from Bloomberg. Moreover, if previously SF Development traded at approximately 200–300 million rubles per year, then in 2023 its revenue jumped to 1.35 billion rubles. Whether such a cosmic success of the company is connected with Mikhail Fridman, who unexpectedly frequented Russia (*aggressor country) at this time, is an open question. By the way, the businessman’s father is now very busy trying to return at least part of his fortune brought to Europe. The other day it became known that Friedman Sr. demanded that the Luxembourg authorities pay him compensation for his assets frozen in the country. He estimated losses at $15.8 billion. How the son of an oligarch earned almost a billion Until recently, Orzelsky had another rather interesting asset – the consulting firm “UK Alliance”. The company appeared in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities in 2019 and provides consulting on commercial activities, personnel selection and assistance in accounting. She earned once, just in 2022, 754 million rubles. Moreover, judging by the accounting reports, this money was withdrawn immediately – at the end of the year, only 10 thousand were listed on the company’s balance sheet. And last fall, the essentially idle SF Development was transferred to a certain citizen of Kyrgyzstan, and four months later – to a certain Russian citizen Anastasia Ushakova. By this time, the company’s authorized capital had increased to 2.4 million rubles, and the number of its employees had grown to 186 people. Alexander Ozhelsky is still under Ukrainian sanctions What is known about the Orzelski family Alexander Ozhelsky is the third child of Mikhail Fridman from his second wife, Oksana. Born in 2000 in Lviv (which is why he considers himself Ukrainian). He has two older sisters born in his father’s first marriage (Laura and Katya Friedman). Both appear to live and work in Europe. And Nika’s own younger sister. This year the girl became an adult. The mother of Alexander and Nika Ozhelsky is Oksana Ozhelskaya. She is 52 years old, the woman worked at Alfa Bank and there she met Mikhail Fridman. Apparently, the couple never got married and lived in a civil marriage. However, it seems that Friedman did not offend his common-law wife, as well as his children. Mikhail Fridman and Oksana Ozhelskaya As Life.ru found out, a luxurious mansion was registered in the woman’s name in the village of Mikhalkovo, in the Krasnogorsk district of the Moscow region. It spreads over an area of ​​1.25 hectares right in the forest. The cadastral value of the land under it alone is 85 million rubles. Adjacent to the site are more than three hectares of agricultural land – for the placement of a peasant (farm) farm. However, if you look at satellite maps, the objects on the site look more like residential buildings. The cadastral value of the site is about 150 million rubles. In the Orzelskis’ garage there was a luxury Mercedes-Benz V-Class minivan, a Bentley Flying Spur W12, a couple of Audi cars: an E-Tron electric car and an A8L executive sedan, as well as a Range Rover Evoque. After the start of the SVO, there were rumors that Oksana and her children left for permanent residence in France. In the Orzelskis’ garage there was a luxurious Bentley Flying Spur W12 How does the son of billionaire Friedman live? In May 2022, Forbes magazine placed Friedman’s children in 20th place in its ranking of the richest heirs of Russian billionaires. According to the publication’s calculations, each of them received $2.6 billion when inheriting the businessman’s fortune (the publication then estimated Friedman’s fortune at 13.2 billion). However, the billionaire’s son stated that all his life “I lived with the understanding that I would not inherit anything from my father”. Nevertheless, in 2019, 19-year-old Friedman Jr. completed his studies at school in London, and soon, as you can understand, he opened the same distribution company SF Development. In addition to her, he also owned a company that delivered hookah products to Moscow restaurants, produced sweet bars and was engaged in various consulting activities. Contrary to his statement about living in a panel high-rise building, Ozhelsky could often be seen in the Match Point premium residential complex, located on Vasilisa Kozhina Street. From the 19th floor, the windows of this complex offer stunning views of Poklonnaya Hill. The cost per square meter here is about 600 thousand rubles. In February of this year, Alexander Orzelsky took up advertising in Spain. This year, the full namesake of Alexander Orzelsky opened a business in Girona. The advertising agency Inversiones Ozhelskiy SL started operating on February 27, the authorized capital amounted to 3 thousand euros.