A High Court judge has hit out at a Russian businesswoman and her Greek ex-husband after their divorce battle cost more than £5m in lawyers’ bills – describing the figure as “apocalyptic”.

Mr Justice Mostyn said these extraordinary costs in their London family court fight over children and money were hard to accept, even among the super-rich.

In the last 18 months, Alla Rakshina and Lazaros Xanthopoulos, who are both aged in their 40s, have already accumulated £5.4m in lawyers’ fees.

‘Vast amounts of future costs in the pipeline’

The judge said: “I have struggled to find the language that aptly describes the exorbitance of the litigious conduct of the parties in the case before me since it began on 21 September 2020.

“In the ensuing 18 months the parties have incurred costs in the extraordinary sum of £5,401,503.

“But that is not the end of the story. There are vast amounts of future costs in the pipeline.”

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He added: “We are looking at the total cost of the litigation between these parties being somewhere between £7.2m and £8m.”

He said the “only word” he could think of was “apocalyptic”.

The judge suggested Lord Chancellor Dominic Raab should consider whether measures could be introduced to “limit the scale and rate of costs” in such cases.

He said: “In my opinion the Lord Chancellor should consider whether statutory measures could be introduced which limit the scale and rate of costs run up in these cases.

“Steps must be taken.”

Ms Rakshina held a senior position at Maria-Ra, a retail grocery business in Russia.

The pair married in Moscow in 2006 and separated in 2020.

Mr Xanthopoulos is fighting for a payout from his ex-wife following the breakdown of their marriage.

He has claimed he was a “house husband” and told the judge that Ms Rakshina had been ranked as the 75th richest woman in Russia.

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