The EU Court rejected the claims of Russian oligarchs for the lifting of sanctions

The Court of the European Union (EU) refused to cancel European sanctions against Russian oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and his wife Elena, Mikhail Fridman, Peter Aven and German Khan.

This is stated in the court decision.

In July 2022, the Council of the European Union obliged people who were included in the sanctions lists to declare their property, accounts and assets in European countries, as well as to cooperate with the competent authorities. This was done in order to prevent the use of complex legal and financial mechanisms, and non-implementation of the decision was equated with the circumvention of sanctions.

In their lawsuits, Russian oligarchs called these obligations excessive. They said that the Council of the EU abused its powers, since such decisions should be made by EU member states. However, the European Court rejected these claims in their entirety.

The court pointed out that European legislation allows the Council to adopt regulations for the implementation of restrictive measures. The court also recognized that the Council did not exceed its powers by acting instead of the EU member states. On the contrary, the national bodies of the countries can decide for themselves whether the participation in the circumvention of sanctions and the related punishment will be criminal, civil or administrative in nature.

• Mikhail Fridman was born in Lviv, but became one of Russiaʼs most prominent businessmen, earning billions in banking, oil and retail. He and his Alpha Group partners Petro Aven, Aleksei Kuzmichev and German Khan were sanctioned by the European Union for alleged ties to Putin shortly after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.