(Bloomberg) -- Russia’s richest man, Vladmir Potanin, won a London court ruling as part of a long-running legal battle with his former wife after a judge said the English courts shouldn’t be used for “divorce tourism.”

The couple divorced in Russia in 2014 and Natalia Potanina had applied to the court for a further award, which would have far outstripped the largest payout in a U.K. divorce. But Judge Jonathan Cohen dismissed the attempt, saying there was no conspiracy among the Russian courts to deprive the wife of a fair payout.

“If this claim is allowed to proceed then there is effectively no limit to divorce tourism,” the judge said, saying that he agreed with an argument made by Potanin’s lawyer.

Potanina, 58, said she received around $40 million following the Russian proceedings while Potanin said she ended up with $84 million -- a sum that by English standards is a “paltry award,” given the billionaire’s wealth and the length of their 31-year-marriage, the judge said. She had sought as much as $6 billion, the judge said.

Potanina is “very disappointed” and plans to appeal, the judge said. Lawyers for both sides declined to comment.

Potanin, Russia’s richest tycoon with $27 billion fortune, is considered to be one of the few “oligarchs,” who became rich under first Russian President Boris Yeltsin. He also plays hockey at the so-called Night Hockey league, sometimes against President Vladimir Putin.

The judge dismissed arguments from Potanina that she couldn’t obtain justice in Russia, saying the local courts properly applied the law. Potanina said that her husband was “too powerful.”

“I do not believe that there is anything more I could have done to obtain justice in Russia. It was an impossible task,” she said in a written submission cited by the judge.

The couple lived in Russia for the length of their marriage, before Potanina moved to England in 2014, the judge said. Her first contact after her arrival appears to have been to obtain advice from London divorce lawyers, the judge said in his ruling.

(Adds comment from judge in final paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Browning in London at jbrowning9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser, Yuliya Fedorinova

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