The Court of Justice of the European Union on Wednesday ruled to lift personal restrictions imposed by the European Union on Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, against who the European Union has imposed sanctions since the outbreak of the military conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, Reuters reports.
The Luxembourg-based court said in a statement:
“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.”
Fridman told the RBC media outlet on Wednesday that he and his business partner Aven were “satisfied” with the court’s decision to remove them from the sanctions list.
Both men’s funds and economic resources were frozen after the European Council imposed restrictions following the outbreak of the Ukrainian military conflict. Both billionaires are major shareholders in the Alfa Group conglomerate, which includes Russia’s largest private bank, Alfa Bank, and the largest food retailer X5 Retail Group.
The court ruled that the billionaires should not have been listed between February 2022 and March 2023. An EU decision in March 2023 re-imposed restrictive measures on the two men, who lodged a separate appeal against the decision.
The court said the EU Council had grounds to allege that Fridman and Aven had close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but it did not prove that the men had supported actions or policies against Ukraine or that they had provided financial support to Russian leaders.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responding to a question about the court ruling on Wednesday, said that Russia considers such sanctions illegal and destructive, but that the businessmen have the opportunity to challenge them.
