Latvia will appeal the lifting of EU sanctions against russian oligarchs Aven and Fridman

At the request of the Ministry of Justice, the Latvian government has decided to appeal the decision of the European Court of Justice, which canceled the sanctions against billionaires Peter Aven and Mikhail Fridman.

In the appeal, Latvia will ask the EU Court not to annul the sanctions imposed against Aven and Friedman. They emphasize that at the time of the adoption of the sanctions, there was evidence that both were involved in supporting russian leaders responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine.

The decision of the EU Court can be appealed both by the Council of the European Union and by the EU state. Latvia urged the EU Council to appeal, but its legal service and the majority of member states recommended against it.

As a reminder, in April, the Court of the European Union annulled the decision of the Council of the EU dated February 28, 2022 on the introduction of sanctions against Aven and Friedman. The court indicated that the reasons for including russian oligarchs in the sanctions list were not sufficiently substantiated.

The court's decision did not apply to later decisions of the Council of the EU, so the sanctions against these two russians are still in effect. They are also under sanctions from the USA, Great Britain, Ukraine and other countries due to their closeness to the russian dictator Putin.

Aven and Friedman are shareholders of Alfa Group, which includes Alfa Bank, one of russia's largest banks. Aven also holds Latvian citizenship and has been living in Latvia with his family since the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Source: LETA