EU court lifts sanctions from Russian businessman for first time
On 6 September, for the first time ever, an EU court granted a lawsuit brought by a Russian businessman seeking the removal of his name from the updated EU sanctions lists, which will be made public in September, effectively allowing the sanctions to be lifted.
Source: Radio Liberty
Details: The Russian businessman in question is Alexander Shulgin, who was included on the sanctions lists as head of the Ozon Group, Russia's leading e-commerce platform, which brings significant revenues to the Russian budget.
As the court’s press service explained to Radio Liberty, Shulgin did not challenge the sanctions as such in his lawsuit, but demanded that he be excluded from any future lists.
In making its decision, the court took account of the fact that Shulgin resigned as CEO of the Ozon Group and resigned from the board of directors on 11 April 2022, after being sanctioned by the European Union and Australia.
The Council of the EU previously agreed that Shulgin’s name would not appear on the updated lists to be published in September, given the weakness of the case against the former businessman.
Background:
- The only person so far to have had sanctions overturned in court is the mother of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
- The EU Court in Luxembourg is currently considering about 80 challenges to sanctions filed by individuals and legal entities from the Russian Federation and Belarus.
- The UK, which has imposed numerous sanctions against the Russian Federation, has granted sanctioned Russian oligarchs at least 82 licences "for personal expenses" of up to US$1 million a year for the Russians to spend on "basic needs" such as chauffeurs, cooks and cleaners.
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