Oligarch's son who bought helicopter after he split from wife now fights to cut her £7m payout

A multimillionaire oligarch’s son who bought himself a helicopter to celebrate splitting from his wife is fighting to slash her “over-generous” £7 million divorce payout.

Boris Zimin, 47, partied on his family’s £3.5 million yacht and “took up learning how to fly his new helicopter” after his 12-year marriage to wife Ella ended in 2009.

The couple had enjoyed a lavish lifestyle thanks to Mr Zimin’s father, Dimitri, who made hundred of millions of pounds from telecommunications following the collapse of the old Soviet Union.

In the divorce settlement agreed in Russia in 2014, Mrs Zimina was awarded £6 million, and she then won a £1.15 million top-up payout in the High Court in London after asking for her “reasonable needs” to be reassessed. She currently lives in a £5 million five-storey, six-bedroom house in Kensington, with the couple’s three teenage children.

However, Mr Zimin has now appealed against the second payout, claiming his ex-wife, 45, took advantage of “generous” UK divorce courts.

The couple have now spent a staggering £2.3 million on legal bills during their protracted court battles stretching across four years.

The court heard they moved to London in 2004 and began renovating the Kensington home, but split before the work had been finished.

Mrs Zimina said while they both enjoyed the high life during their marriage thanks to the “enormous largesse” of Mr Zimin’s father, she has had to readjust to a more “modest” standard of living since the split.

But she told the court her ex-husband continued to enjoy the high life, “including sumptuous properties in the sun, use of a £3.5 million yacht and ownership of a £850,000 helicopter”.

Lewis Marks QC, for Mr Zimin, told the Court of Appeal the original Russian divorce settlement was fair and the extra money should be returned.

“If a wife has millions of pounds, the wife is clearly not suffering hardship,” he said. “It is impossible to characterise the provision made in Russia as inadequate.”

He said Mrs Zimina had agreed the terms of the Russian divorce package, and the deal should be respected unless there was evidence of fraud, misrepresentation or duress.

“Mere disparity between a foreign award and what would be awarded in England is not a reason to grant permission to apply [for more],” he added, accusing Mrs Zimina of “taking advantage” of living in England to seek more money.

Mr Marks added: “These proceedings, from 2014 to the present day, have cost the family approximately £2.3 million in legal costs.

“The husband made every possible effort to have the case resolved quickly, and ideally cheaply, from the start.”

Richard Todd QC, for Mrs Zimina, countered that she should have been given even more money in the settlement because of the Zimin family’s huge wealth.

“The husband has had in the order of £40 million and a lifestyle including sumptuous properties in the sun, use of a £3.5 million yacht and ownership of a helicopter”, he said.

“The wife had £3 million in property and £3 million in cash.”

He said Mrs Zimina had “lived relatively frugally” after the split while her ex-husband “enjoyed the yacht and took up learning how to fly his new helicopter”.

“In a case where the husband had assets in excess of £40.5 million… the wife’s needs should have been assessed on a generously interpreted basis,” he said. Mr Todd urged Lord Justice Patten, sitting with Lord Justice Floyd and Lady Justice King, to dismiss the appeal and uphold Mrs Zimina’s full divorce payout. The judges have now reserved their ruling until a later date.