EU court rules to lift sanctions against Russian oligarchs Aven, Fridman

The General Court has granted the lawsuit filed by Russian billionaires Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, who demanded that the EU sanctions against them be lifted

This is stated in the court ruling.

“The reason given by the Council cannot be taken into account in order to place and maintain the two businessmen on those lists,” the document says.

The court concluded that none of the reasons contained in the primary legal act were properly justified and that the inclusion of Aven and Fridman in the challenged list was not justified.

At the same time, the European Union has the opportunity to appeal this decision.

Radio Liberty journalist Rikard Jozwiak said that this decision applies only to the blacklist from February 2022 to March 23.

For reference. Fridman and Aven are the founders and shareholders of the Russian Alfa-Bank. After the outbreak of the great war in Ukraine, they fled Russia but found themselves under EU and UK sanctions. In August 2023, they were also added to the US sanctions list.

• The court has seized the assets of three Russian oligarchs, Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, and Andrey Kosogov, in Ukraine. The value of the seized corporate rights is over UAH 17 billion.