EU court lifts sanctions against russian oligarchs Aven and Friedman

The EU Court of Justice publishes a ruling that removes two russian businessmen, Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, from the list of persons subject to EU sanctions.

"The court has canceled the registration of Peter Aven and Mikhail Fridman on the list of persons subject to restrictive measures from February 2022 to March 2023. The reasons cited by the Council of the EU should probably not be taken into account for the inclusion and continuation of these two businessmen on these lists," the statement said.

As noted in the published information, Peter Aven, who has russian and Latvian citizenship, and Mikhail Fridman, who has russian and Israeli citizenship, are the main shareholders of Alfa Group, a conglomerate representing Alfa Bank, one of the leading banks in russia. In February 2022, in response to russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Council of the EU adopted a primary legal act that placed these two individuals, along with others, on a sanctions list and froze their funds and economic resources.

In this legal act of February 2022, which was extended in September of the same year, the EU Council concluded that Aven and Friedman were associated with the persons targeted by the EU restrictive measures, as well as with Vladimir Putin himself, as they provided material assistance or financed russian decision-makers, supported russian actions and policies that were directed against or threatened the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

Both of these individuals denied this and stated that such conclusions were erroneous.

According to the report, the EU Court of Justice granted the claim filed by Aven and Friedman and annulled both decisions to include them in the sanctions list, as well as the decision to extend the restrictive measures from February 29, 2022 to March 15, 2023.

"The Court concluded that none of the reasons contained in the original legal act were adequately substantiated and that the inclusion of Messrs. Aven and Friedman on the challenged list was not justified. As regards the continuation of this decision, the Court held that the EU Council had not provided any additional evidence beyond that which it had referred to in the context of the original act," the document says.

According to the court's findings, while the reasons relied upon by the Council of the EU can be seen as confirming some form of closeness between Mr. Aven and Mr. Friedman and Putin and his entourage, they do not allow the court to confirm that both individuals supported actions or policies that violate or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, or provided material or financial assistance to russian nationals who made decisions and are responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine. It has also not been proven that these businessmen received any benefits from the said russians involved in the decision-making.

As noted, an appeal against such a legal decision may be filed with the court within two months and ten days from its announcement.

Source: Court of Justice of the EU