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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Will Hayward

Welsh politician refuses to step down from investment firm with strong links to Putin's Russia

United States Vladimir Putin LetterOne Russia Petr Aven Ukraine Mervyn Davies Mikhail Fridman Alfa Group Vladamir Putin

A Labour member of the House of Lords has refused to step down as the chairman of a £17 billion investment firm whose major shareholders are Russian oligarchs.

Mervyn Davies (who is now Baron Davies of Abersoch) was Labour Government minister under Gordon Brown and received a life peerage in 2009. He is currently the chairman of investment firm LetterOne, which was founded by Russian billionaire oligarch Mikhail Fridman. LetterOne owns the health retail chain Holland & Barrett and energy assets across Europe.

Friedman and fellow oligarch Petr Aven own just under 50% of the shares in the company but have had their shares frozen after being hit with EU sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Three other billionaires German Khan, Alexei Kuzmichev and Andrei Kosogov have also resigned from the board.

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