The High Court of England and Wales has upheld the global asset freeze against Kazakh businessman Timur Kuanyshev, his wife Alfiya Askar, and his business partner Yevgeniy Shlenskikh. The ruling relates to a claim by Russian bank VTB concerning the obligations of the company "Pechoraneftgaz".
According to the court documents, VTB is seeking to recover 7.19 billion roubles (approximately 41 billion tenge) under a 2019 credit agreement entered into with "Pechoraneftgaz". The bank also alleges that, in an attempt to settle the debt, the defendants provided false information and documents. These assertions are presented as the claimant's position; the documents do not specify whether a final ruling has been made on the substance of the claims.
WHAT THE COURT DECIDED
The court was considering the parameters of an existing global asset freezing order. The defendants requested that the threshold for compulsory asset disclosure be raised from £5,000 to £25,000, but the court refused, stating the need for full disclosure of assets.
"Freezing orders usually require defendants to disclose assets, as they may be reluctant to do so. Disclosure is an important part of the operation of such measures," the court documents state.
However, the court partially granted another request: it ordered the claimant to increase the amount of security from £100,000 to £500,000 and to deposit it with the court, subject to obtaining sanctions licences. The asset freeze itself remained in place.
The court also declined to immediately exclude from the case property claimed by a third party and scheduled a separate hearing to determine the ownership of the assets.
WHICH ASSETS ARE AFFECTED
According to "Kursiv", the restrictions cover stakes in foreign holdings worth approximately $200 million, as well as property in the UK and Kazakhstan.
Key assets include stakes in Andoro Trading Corp and PMG Holding GmbH, along with real estate. VTB informed the court that the list of assets might be incomplete, claiming that certain accounts and company shares were missing from it.
CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND OF THE CASE
According to the documents, in July 2024, Timur Kuanyshev and Yevgeniy Shlenskikh acquired a 25% stake in the parent company of "Pechoraneftgaz" and signed guarantee obligations to VTB.
By April 2025, the company had defaulted on the loan, prompting the bank to initiate court proceedings.
The claim was filed in a Russian court in December 2025, and subsequently, interim measures—including the asset freeze—were also imposed in the DIFC (Dubai), England, and Wales.
Previously, the UK had imposed restrictive measures against Kazakh entities. In particular, the sanctions list included a number of companies registered in Kazakhstan, including Kazstanex and other enterprises.