2 Russian businessmen linked to Alfa Group win court case over EU sanctions
Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven won a court case Wednesday over a European Union decision to sanction them for their alleged role in Russia’s war against Ukraine
BRUSSELS — Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven won a court case Wednesday over a European Union decision to sanction them for their alleged role in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The EU General Court said a lack of evidence justified their removal from a list of persons who faced restrictive measures between February 2022 and March 2023. The EU in March last year kept Aven and Fridman on the lists. The two have also challenged that decision in separate cases still pending.
Fridman is a founder of Alfa Group and ranks as one of Russia’s wealthiest tycoons. The group’s Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest non-state bank, was sanctioned by the EU in March 2022, prompting Fridman to leave the board to try to help the bank skirt sanctions. Aven headed Alfa Bank until March 2022, but like Fridman left the board after the EU move.
The EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine. The measures have targeted the energy sector, banks, the world’s biggest diamond-mining company, businesses and markets, and subjected Russian officials — including Russian President Vladimir Putin — to asset freezes and travel bans.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed Wednesday's ruling.
“Of course representatives of big business have the opportunity to challenge these sanctions decisions… and they are doing that,” Peskov told reporters. “In any case, we consider all these sanctions illegal, unfair and destructive."
Neither Fridman nor Aven had directly criticized the war. They instead asked well-known anti-war
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