EU removes two Russian billionaires from sanctions list

The EU court ruled to remove two Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven from the list of individuals sanctioned over the war in Ukraine.

The European Union (EU) has imposed successive rounds of sanctions on Russian citizens and businesses after Moscow launched hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022. Two billionaires, Aven and Fridman, major shareholders of Russian bank Alfa, filed a complaint with the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance to protest their inclusion on the EU sanctions list.

The European Court of Justice said today that the reasons initially given by the European Council for imposing sanctions on the two businessmen were not convincing. Therefore, the court decided to annul the charges and the sanctions against the two Russian billionaires.

More than 1,700 individuals and 400 companies linked to Russia are currently on the EU sanctions list, including Alfa Bank. These individuals are banned from travelling to the EU, while EU citizens and companies are also banned from doing financial transactions with them.

After Fridman and Aven were placed on the EU sanctions list, their assets in Europe were frozen. Both argued that the evidence presented by the European Council, which represents the 27 EU member states, was unreliable.

Russian billionaires Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman. Photo: LetterOne Group — Russian billionaires Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman. Photo: *LetterOne Group*

The European Court of First Instance agreed with this argument, finding the European Council's reasons for the sanctions "unfounded and unjustified". The Council also failed to provide any new evidence to sustain the sanctions against Fridman and Aven.

"The Council has not demonstrated that these two individuals supported actions or policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, provided material support to Moscow's decision-makers or benefited from them," the court said.

Lawyers representing the two Russian billionaires welcomed the “most significant” ruling. “The court has rightly ruled that all the charges against Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven are completely unfounded,” they said. “Punishment of them is a counterproductive mistake. We hope that today’s strong signal will be heard in the EU and other countries.”

Reacting to the court's ruling, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia believed such sanctions were both illegal and destructive, but that businessmen had the opportunity to appeal.

Huyen Le (According to AFP , Reuters )

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