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The European Union’s top court has ruled that sanctions against Russian tech executives should be lifted, the first time the EU’s highest court has lifted measures against a businessman sanctioned over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Alexander Shulgin, the former chief executive of e-commerce platform Ozon, has joined dozens of other members of Russia’s elite in appealing the ECJ’s sanctions.
While at least six such appeals were formally dismissed Wednesday, the court made a rare exception in Shulkin’s case.
The sanctions against him will not be lifted immediately, and the European Council, which first imposed the measures, could appeal or impose new sanctions as early as next week when they are updated.
However, it was a first for the court, which had previously only upheld appeals by relatives of members of the sanctioned elite, such as the mother of Wagnerian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“I am pleased to confirm that the General Court of the European Union has disqualified Mr Shulkin from listing,” Thierry Bontinck, a lawyer representing Mr Shulkin, told the Financial Times.
Anastasia Konstantinova, partner and head of sanctions practice at law firm Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin & Partners, said: “This is the first positive decision by an EU court against representatives of Russian companies. ruling.” “We are pleased that justice has been served and that we were able to participate in restoring our client’s good name.”
Shulkin was sanctioned for attending a meeting of business leaders and oligarchs convened by President Vladimir Putin on the first day of his 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to court documents released Wednesday. Shulkin argued on appeal that alone was insufficient evidence. The court agreed.
“As the applicant essentially insists, the Council cannot infer from the mere fact that he attended the meeting…”. . He may be responsible for actions or policies that undermine or threaten Ukraine’s stability, the ruling said, citing other arguments.
Several other oligarchs have lost appeals against EU sanctions, including business tycoon Dmitry Pumpyansky and longtime Putin aide Gennady Timchenko.
Pumpyansky is the founder of TMK, the leading producer of pipelines for the oil and gas industry, which was sanctioned last year by the European Union, the United States, Britain and Switzerland. His appeal was dismissed on Wednesday. “His inclusion in the list of restricted measures is warranted because he can be classified as the main businessman involved,” the court said in a statement. . An industry that provides a substantial source of revenue to the Russian government. “
The court also dismissed Timchenko’s appeal, court documents show. Timchenko is a longtime friend of Putin and a shareholder in Bank of Russia, which was sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom before Russia invaded.
Court documents show that Tigran Khudaverdyan’s appeal was also dismissed. The businessman was Yandex’s deputy chief executive when he was sanctioned for attending an oligarch roundtable with Putin on the first day of the invasion. He later resigned.
Mikhail Gutseriev, who owns businesses including potash assets in Belarus, also lost an appeal against the sanctions over his close ties to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko .
Additional reporting by Anastasia Stoney
Svlook
