EU court rejects Russian oligarch’s bid to overturn Ukraine sanctions
The EU General Court has rejected Russian oligarch Alexander Ponomarenko’s attempt to overturn sanctions imposed on him in connection with Russia’s actions against Ukraine, according to a ruling published on 5 March.
In its judgment, the court upheld the asset freezes and travel restrictions first imposed by the Council of the European Union in February 2022, finding that Ponomarenko ‘provided material or financial support to Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine.’
The ruling rejected all three grounds of Ponomarenko’s appeal, in which he had claimed violations of procedural rights, manifest errors of assessment, and breaches of fundamental rights including the right to property and the principle of equal treatment.
According to the court documents, the former chairman of Sheremetyevo International Airport was sanctioned partly because of his involvement in financing ‘a palace located near Gelendzhik, which is personally used by President Putin,’ as well as his association with sanctioned oligarch Arkady Rotenberg.
The court found that Ponomarenko’s ownership of an unidentified company, which was ‘involved in the financing mechanism of the Gelendzhik complex and ensured access to this complex by sea,’ constituted sufficient evidence of his support for Putin. Judges dismissed Ponomarenko’s claims that he had sold his shares in this company in 2018, noting the suspiciously low sale price of the unidentified firm, compared to the substantial sums that had flowed through the company.
The court also determined that Ponomarenko maintained business interests with Rotenberg through their joint ownership of a holding company that controls Sheremetyevo Airport, establishing a relevant association between the men.
‘The application of restrictive measures to persons who provide material or financial support to Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine… is appropriate to increase the pressure on the Russian authorities to end their actions and policies destabilizing Ukraine,’ the court stated.
