Farkhad Akhmedov: Northgas, the London Divorce Case and the Sanctions Lifted in Europe

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Photo: Denis Vdovin, Unsplash License, via Unsplash

Sanctions status — checked 18 October 2026

Not found on the OFAC SDN, UK OFSI or EU consolidated lists.

Absence from these three lists does not mean no restrictions apply elsewhere. Checked against the OFAC SDN list, the UK OFSI consolidated list and the EU consolidated list. Sanctions lists change without notice — verify against the primary source before relying on this.

Current figure: Forbes puts Farkhad Akhmedov’s net worth at $1.7 billion as of 18 October 2026 (Forbes profile). Estimates are revised continuously and Forbes and Bloomberg frequently disagree.

Farkhad Akhmedov is a Russian and Azerbaijani businessman who made his fortune in the gas sector. He founded the equipment supplier Tansley Trading in 1987 and held 49 percent of the gas producer Northgas until he sold the stake to Novatek in 2012. From 2004 to 2009 he sat in Russia’s Federation Council. In London he lost a long divorce case in which the High Court awarded his former wife more than £450 million. The European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland sanctioned him in 2022 and have since lifted those sanctions; the EU General Court annulled the EU listing in 2024. As of October 2026 only Canada still lists him.

  • Born: 15 September 1955 in Baku, Azerbaijan (EU Implementing Regulation 2022/581, Federation Council)
  • Education: Moscow Veterinary Academy
  • Known for: founder of Tansley Trading, former co-owner and chairman of Northgas, member of the Federation Council (2004–2009)
  • Sanctions as of October 2026: Canada (since 18 May 2022). Formerly listed by the European Union (April 2022 to September 2023), Switzerland (April 2022 to September 2023) and the United Kingdom (April 2022 to March 2025). Not listed by the United States.

Early life and Tansley Trading

Akhmedov was born on 15 September 1955 in Baku (EU Implementing Regulation 2022/581, UK sanctions notice, 19 March 2025). According to his biography at the Federation Council, he graduated from the Moscow Veterinary Academy and holds a candidate degree in economics (Federation Council, Novaya Gazeta Europe, 31 March 2023). The EU General Court describes him as a national of Russia and Azerbaijan (General Court, T-363/22).

Forbes writes that he started out selling Russian sables at the London commodity exchange. In 1987 he founded Tansley Trading, which supplied equipment to Russian gas producers (Forbes). The company was renamed Farco Services in 1994 and dissolved in 1999 (General Court, T-363/22). In 1993 he and his wife moved to London, where he worked as an oil and gas trader, the High Court found in the couple’s divorce case (High Court, [2016] EWHC 3234 (Fam)).

Northgas

Northgas, an oil and gas company in Siberia, was set up in 1993. A subsidiary of Gazprom held 51 percent, the US company Bechtel Energy 44 percent and Tansley Trading 5 percent. In 1998 Akhmedov bought Bechtel’s shares and from then on held 49 percent (General Court, T-363/22, Forbes). Before he joined the Federation Council he was president of Nortgaz (Federation Council). After a dispute between Gazprom and the company in 2003 and 2004, a settlement in 2005 left Gazprom with 51 percent, while Akhmedov’s British company kept 49 percent and a veto over strategic decisions (Vedomosti, 6 November 2012, Kommersant, 26 June 2007).

In November 2012 Novatek bought his 49 percent of Northgas for $1.375 billion (Reuters via The Moscow Times, 6 November 2012, Vedomosti). The EU General Court later established that he has held no shares in and no position at Northgas since 2012 (General Court, T-363/22). Forbes and Novaya Gazeta Europe report that he invested in a pomegranate juice plant, AZNAR, in Goychay in Azerbaijan, where his father had worked (Forbes, Novaya Gazeta Europe).

Federation Council

From December 2004 to June 2007 Akhmedov was a member of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, representing the executive authority of the Krasnodar region. From June 2007 to July 2009 he represented the legislative assembly of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. He sat on the council’s Committee on Legal and Judicial Affairs and, until February 2007, on its commission on natural monopolies (Federation Council, Kommersant, Novaya Gazeta Europe). He left the Federation Council in 2009 (General Court, T-363/22).

The divorce case in London

Akhmedov and Tatiana Akhmedova married in Moscow in July 1993. She applied for financial relief in London in October 2013 (High Court, [2016] EWHC 3234 (Fam), High Court, [2021] EWHC 545 (Fam)). On 15 December 2016 Mr Justice Haddon-Cave awarded her £453,576,152, which he put at 41.5 percent of the total marital assets. Akhmedov did not appear at the trial. Days later the court ordered him to pay a lump sum of £350 million, ordered the transfer of certain property and granted a worldwide freezing order (High Court, [2016] EWHC 3234 (Fam), judiciary press summary, 19 April 2018).

In April 2018 the court declared that the superyacht Luna was beneficially owned by Akhmedov and stated that he had “taken numerous elaborate steps to conceal his wealth and evade enforcement of the Judgment” (judiciary press summary, 19 April 2018). He had bought Luna from Roman Abramovich in February 2014 for €260 million (High Court, [2021] EWHC 545 (Fam)). In October 2019 Mrs Justice Knowles noted that he had “not voluntarily paid a penny” of the award and that only around £5 million had been recovered (High Court, [2019] EWHC 2561 (Fam)). In April 2021 she ruled for his former wife against Liechtenstein trusts and other respondents, describing “dishonest schemes instigated by Farkhad Akhmedov” to move assets out of her reach (High Court, [2021] EWHC 545 (Fam)). Later in 2021 the two sides settled; according to Forbes, Tatiana Akhmedova accepted cash and art. The terms were not published (Forbes, Novaya Gazeta Europe).

Sanctions

CountryListedStatus in October 2026
Canada18 May 2022Listed (Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations, item 787)
European Union8 April 2022Removed on 13 September 2023; listing annulled by the General Court on 29 May 2024 (T-363/22)
Switzerland13 April 2022Removed on 25 September 2023
United Kingdom13 April 2022Removed on 19 March 2025
United StatesnoNot listed (OFAC SDN list)
UkrainenoNo entry in the annex to Decree 727/2022

The European Union listed Akhmedov on 8 April 2022. Its statement of reasons described him as “a Russian businessman involved in the energy sector and in Russian local politics”, said that he had become “Chairman of Bechtel Energy”, and stated: “He is close to the Kremlin and is a leading businessperson involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation” (EU Implementing Regulation 2022/581, Decision 2022/582). The Council renewed the listing twice and removed him on 13 September 2023 (EU Implementing Regulation 2023/1765, Mediazona, 14 September 2023). On 29 May 2024 the General Court of the EU annulled the listing acts of 2022 and 2023 as far as they concerned him. It found that, since Tansley Trading had been dissolved in 1999 and the Northgas stake sold in 2012, he could not be regarded as a leading businessperson on that basis, and that the claim about Bechtel Energy was a factual error because he had never chaired that company. The reported closeness to the Kremlin, the court said, could be taken into account only as context and could not justify the listing on its own (General Court, T-363/22, 29 May 2024, Official Journal notice).

Switzerland listed him on 13 April 2022 with the EU’s reasons and removed him on 25 September 2023 (Swiss sanctions list). The United Kingdom listed him on 13 April 2022, stating that he was associated with a person involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia through the Russian information, communications and digital technologies sector. It removed him on 19 March 2025 without giving a reason (UK sanctions notice, 19 March 2025, TASS, 19 March 2025). In 2022 German authorities detained the yacht Luna in the port of Hamburg (Novaya Gazeta Europe, 11 May 2022, Forbes).

Canada added him to its Russia sanctions regulations on 18 May 2022, without publishing individual reasons, and still lists him (Canada Gazette, SOR/2022-102). The United States has not sanctioned him. In early 2018 the US Treasury named him in its so-called Kremlin report under the CAATSA law, a list without legal consequences; before the EU court he said that he had been included only because his wealth exceeded $1 billion (General Court, T-363/22, Novaya Gazeta Europe). We checked the US, UK and Canadian lists as of 8 October 2026, the Swiss list as of 5 October 2026 and the EU list as of its review of 22 September 2026.

About this profile

This profile was rewritten in October 2026. The 2022 version said that the EU sanctioned Akhmedov in March 2014 over the annexation of Crimea; the EU in fact listed him in April 2022, removed him in September 2023, and its court annulled the listing in 2024. It said that Vladimir Putin appointed him to the Federation Council; he represented the regional executive of Krasnodar and later the Nenets regional assembly. It also claimed that he holds a 1983 degree in fur merchandising, sat on a fuel and energy commission, has six children born in North America, was ordered to pay in 2017 in a dispute that is still running, and that Luna had been commissioned by Roman Abramovich and never delivered. These statements are wrong according to the sources above. The 2022 version also listed a private jet, homes in London, Moscow and France and donations to Moscow State University, the British Museum and charities; we found no source for any of them. They have been removed. The net worth figure in the box at the top of this page comes from Forbes and carries its date.

Sources

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