EU court lifts sanctions against two Russian oligarchs

The European Union’s General Court has removed Russian billionaires Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman from its sanctions list, ruling there is insufficient evidence ‘in order to place and maintain the two businessmen on those lists.’

 Petr Aven, of Russian and Latvian nationality, and Mikhail Fridman, of Russian and Israeli nationality, are major shareholders of Russia’s Alfa Group conglomerate. They were sanctioned by the EU following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The European Council had imposed sanctions on the pair on grounds of their ties with President Vladimir Putin’s government.

‘The General Court considers that none of the reasons set out in the initial acts is sufficiently substantiated and that the inclusion of Mr Aven and Mr Fridman on the lists at issue was therefore not justified,’ the 10 April statement said.

It explained: ‘According to the General Court, although the grounds put forward by the Council may be such as to establish, as the case may be, a degree of proximity between Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman and Vladimir Putin or his entourage, they do not demonstrate that they have supported actions or policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, or that they have provided material or financial support to the Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilisation of Ukraine, or that they have benefited from those decision-makers.’

https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2024-04/cp240061en.pdf