Volkov admitted a mistake with a letter to the EU about Fridman and decided to "take a break"

Oppositionist Leonid Volkov (included by the Ministry of Justice in the list of foreign agents) admitted that in October last year he signed and sent a letter addressed to the HEAD of European diplomacy Josep Borrell with a request to lift sanctions against the leaders of Alfa Group, calling it "a big political mistake."

“Worse, by doing this, I exceeded my authority - I signed it not in my personal capacity, but on behalf of the organization. I didn’t inform my colleagues, and, therefore, I framed them,” he wrote in the TELEGRAM channel.

Volkov, in this regard, announced the decision "to take a break in his public socio-political activities as chairman of the board of the ACF International fund [the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK), recognized in RUSSIA as a foreign agent, as well as an extremist organization and banned]".

The oppositionist apologized to everyone "whose trust he did not justify."

Volkov made the statement after Alexei Venediktov, former editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy (recognized as a foreign agent), published a photo of another letter dated February 7, 2023, asking him to lift restrictions on Alfa Group leaders Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, Herman Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev. It is addressed to the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leiden and Borrell. Venediktov also published a list of those who signed the appeal, including Volkov, the founder of the Dozhd TV channel (included in the register of foreign media agents in Russia) Natalya Sindeeva (recognized as a foreign agent), journalist Sergei Parkhomenko (included in the register of foreign media agents), and others.

However, Volkov, in his March 9 statement, speaks only of a letter dated October. He published a copy of it in the telegram channel. Venediktov also posted the same letter 20 minutes before Volkov's post in the telegram channel.

The February appeal indicated that Fridman, the founder of Alfa Group, is known for liberal views and was a friend of Boris Nemtsov, who was killed in 2015. In addition, he has never met with President Vladimir Putin one-on-one, he has no state awards, he was born and raised in Ukraine, the appeal said.

In the spring of 2022, after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Mikhail Fridman, along with other major shareholders of Alfa Group, Petr Aven, Alexei Kuzmichev and German Khan, came under EU and UK sanctions.

A publication in the official journal of the EU on the sanctions claimed that Aven "benefited from his connections in power" and Friedman "managed to develop strong ties with the administration of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin." The sanctions include freezing assets in the EU and a ban on entry.

Aven and Friedman later filed suit with the European COURT of Justice in Luxembourg against the decision of the EU Council. They called the EU decision unreasonable and capable of causing unjustified damage to employees, customers, partners and businesses.

Both businessmen complained that because of the sanctions they had to give up many familiar things. Friedman compared life under sanctions with house arrest, and Aven admitted that he did not know how to survive now.