Eugene Shvidler, a billionaire who has been associated with oligarch Roman Abramovich, has launched the first challenge to the UK’s Russian sanctions regime in a London court.

Peters & Peters, which represents Shvidler, filed the claim last month, arguing that the UK had made “significant errors” in assessing his relationship with Abramovich.

Michael O’Kane told The Guardian that his client, who is a UK/US national and had “spoken out against the war”, had been sanctioned by the UK for having engaged in a lawful activity, in connection with a FTSE 100 company (the steel business Evraz).

Speaking to Bloomberg, Michael said that the case will consider the extent to which his client “is an involved person” whose activities benefit the Russian government. Michael explained that Shvidler cannot possibly influence Vladimir Putin’s government policy in Ukraine, “which is meant to be the purpose of these sanctions”.

This will be the first case that British judges review since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago.

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