Speaking to The Mirror, a source claiming to be the personal assistant to several sanctioned Russian oligarchs said they had witnessed the men break down “in tears” due to their assets being frozen. After President Vladimir Putin took the decision to invade Ukraine (once again) in February 2022, he was shortly met with Western countries taking strategic action against Russia, including the targeting of his allies—some of the country’s wealthiest businessmen.

“I have had to endure hearing them in tears because they can’t get on board a private jet or book a holiday or even get an Uber anymore,” the personal assistant, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, told The Mirror.

According to the publication, the assistant works for the oligarchs who live in Surrey’s St George’s Estate, located in the UK. It is a gated community where a third of the residents are said to be Russian. It’s also considered to be one of the most exclusive private residential addresses outside of London, according to property finder Garrington South.

The Mirror report added that some of the oligarchs in question had to ask staff to pay for their taxis after the Uber executive accounts linked to their cards had been closed. “It’s hard to have any sympathy. It doesn’t matter to them if people are dying in Ukraine,” shared the anonymous assistant, adding that an oligarch’s wife collapsed in tears after bespoke electrical fittings ordered for her £10 million mansion were blocked.

Another Surrey pair were stranded in Dubai when their first-class flight was cancelled.

Sanctions have also targeted oligarchs’ families, such as in the case of billionaire businessman Gennady Timchenko—whose wife and daughters have been impacted by the restrictions. Timchenko has been close friends with President Putin since the early 1990s.

Speaking about oligarch families in general, the assistant said, “They care only about themselves and how the sanctions are starting to affect their champagne lifestyle. But that’s all changing now and it’s good to see them having to adjust to their new place in the world.”

Hopefully, this will teach them a thing or two about caring for others, and the impact of war, rather than their precious light fittings. As the assistant initially told The Mirror, “They care only about themselves and how the sanctions are starting to affect their champagne lifestyle.” They went as far as to reveal that “just before the war one of the wealthy Russian families I know in Surrey paid £24,000 to fly a live crab and some black caviar from Moscow on a private jet for a party.” Sickening.