Abramovich associate with Canadian ties sanctioned in U.K.

Tenenbaum told the Financial Post that he had bought Ervington from a trust called Norma Investments.

Abramovich’s family was previously the beneficial owner of Norma, Tenenbaum said, but at the time he sought to buy Ervington from Norma, it was controlled by Davidovich.

The Wall Street Journal in March reported that control of Norma, long linked to Abramovich, had been transferred to Davidovich around the time of the Ukraine invasion.

Tenenbaum was born in Kyiv when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. In the 1970s, his family immigrated to Canada, where he grew up, went to university and launched his career as an accountant and auditor.

The website for Companies House, the U.K. government’s registrar of companies, lists Tenenbaum as a Canadian national and a resident of Jersey in the Channel Islands. Reuters reported last month that he described himself as “a British citizen.”

Tenenbaum was not immediately available to comment on being added to the U.K.’s sanctions list.

He told Reuters in a statement last month that he disagreed with the characterization of Abramovich as a close ally of Putin for decades.

“It is my hope that the unjust measures imposed on Mr. Abramovich will be reassessed,” he told the news service.

Abramovich has been sanctioned by Canada but Tenenbaum has not.

A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada declined to respond to questions about Tenenbaum or say whether sanctioning him is under consideration.