ThoseBinational Russo-Suisse on black list –
Always sanctioned, an oligarch goes to Dubai, his site will restart
Alexander Pumpyansky lost a battle before the Federal Administrative Court (TAF). In Chêne-Bourg, an abandoned real estate project could restart.
For the benefit of Swiss and Russian dual nationality, Alexander Pumpyansky is one of the Genevans targeted by sanctions against Russia.
Lucien fortunate
- The federal administrative court maintains the sanctions against Alexander Pumpyansky, opposite the EU.
- The Swiss judges consider his rights of signature as proof of interests with the family business.
- The Pumpyansky family left Geneva to settle in Dubai.
- His frozen real estate project in Chêne-Bourg was taken over by Swissroc and Arab Bank.
Despite his legal fight, the Genevan Alexander Pumpyansky is maintained on the Swiss list People struck by sanctions related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In A judgment dated June 23, 2025mentioned by Gotham City specialized mediathe Federal Administrative Court (TAF) considers that the son of the oligarch Dmitry Pumpyansky remains an “partner” likely to serve as an intermediary to bypass the measures aimed at his father, owner of the TMK steel giant specializing in pipelines.
Swiss justice thus maintains a position contrary to that of the European Union, which canceled the sanctions targeting Alexander Pumpyansky twice, in 2023 and 2025. For European judges, there was not enough evidence that the Russo-Suisse binational was still taking advantage of family affairs. This is not the opinion of their Swiss counterparts, who believe that its signing rights over a dozen accounts related to family companies demonstrate the persistence of common interests.
The divergence between the Swiss and European justices is clear. For European magistrates, the past functions of Alexander Pumpyansky in the boards of directors no longer justify his maintenance on a blacklist. TAF doubts the sincerity of the resignation letters signed the day after his registration. These gestures, according to Swiss judges, “do not prove a real and lasting distancing”. The family’s fortune is estimated at nearly 300 million francs, according to the elements paid to the file.
From Migros to Dubai
In An interview with the “Tribune de Genève” in March 2022Alexander Pumpyansky described the concrete effects of sanctions: blocked credit cards, terminated mobile subscription and difficulties in doing the Migros shopping “. A few months later, the State Secretariat for the Economy (SECO), however, granted it a monthly envelope of 24,000 francs, supposed to cover the “basic needs” of its Geneva household.
A sum deemed too “uncomfortable” by the family, who speaks in the procedure of a “social death”, also marked by the seizure of his villa of oak-bougeries for a background of military tax. After twenty years spent in the canton and a passage through Turkey, the clan finally moved to Dubai, a refuge of many Russian fortunes.
The ghost hotel changes hands
Beyond the blocked accounts and the departure of the rich family, the case left an empty land in Chêne-Bourg. At the end of 2021, Domus Flavia Investments – an investment company from the Pumpyansky family – had shaved a former building to build a hotel residence in 100 rooms. The site froze in February 2022, arousing the irritation of the neighborhood and the municipal authorities, As the “Tribune de Genève” then reported.
But TAF stops us that blocking could now belong to the past. In May 2023, the Seco authorized the sale of the entire actions of Domus Flavia, renamed in the meantime Kingcross Property SA.
The buyer’s buyer is an alliance between Swissroc and Arab Bank (Switzerland). In a press releasethese two partners have announced that they had acquired the plot on behalf of their SWISS Real Estate Opportunities (SREO) Fund.
With a force permit, the project now provides 12,000 m² of mixed surfaces (offices, shops) spread over six floors. Delivery was announced for the end of 2027, even if activity in the field does not seem to have resumed. This earth exit would end the neighborhood plan and complete the Léman Express pole, between the Opal tower and the Rolex campus. The delay in the site had also blocked the creation of a public square.
Alexander Pumpyansky will have to pay 5,000 francs in legal costs. He has thirty days to use the Federal Court.
Contacted, the representative of Alexander Pumpyansky, Carl Baudenbacher, former president of the Aele court, disputes the decision. According to him, “the Ukraine regulations constitute an autonomous resumption of European Union law. The federal administrative court has misinterpreted the case law of the Federal Court on the making of the decisions of the European courts. He should have raised the sanction on the basis of the case law of the EU court. »»
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