Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven emerged victorious in a recent legal battle challenging the European Union’s sanctions imposed on them in connection with the conflict in Ukraine. The EU General Court, the second-highest court in Europe, deemed the provided evidence insufficient to sustain the restrictive measures that had been placed on the pair from February 2022 through March 2023.
The sanctions were part of a broader EU effort to penalize individuals and entities seen as complicit or supportive of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Mikhail Fridman, one of Russia’s most affluent individuals, is a founding member of Alfa Group. The financial and industrial conglomerate’s subsidiary, Alfa Bank, stands as Russia’s largest privately-owned bank. It, too, faced EU sanctions in March 2022, prompting Fridman to leave the bank’s board in an attempt to mitigate the sanctions’ impact on the institution. Similarly, Petr Aven, who served as the head of Alfa Bank until the sanctions were instated, also resigned from the board.
Despite their exits, the EU maintained the sanctions against Fridman and Aven, keeping them on the list for restrictive measures another year. The decision sparked legal challenges from the businessmen, with separate cases still pending resolution.
The sanctions regime directed at Russia has been tightening since the onset of the Ukraine conflict, with punitive measures affecting key sectors like energy, banking, and diamond mining. Not only businesses but also Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have been subjected to asset freezes and travel bans.
Aven, a dual citizen of Russia and Latvia, and Fridman, holding passports from Russia and Israel, were placed under restrictive measures shortly after the invasion began. The two immediately contested the EU’s decision. Their argument, ultimately upheld by the EU General Court, was that there was a lack of substantial proof to connect them materially or financially to Russian policymakers or the military efforts destabilizing Ukraine.
In its statement, the Luxembourg-based court highlighted the inadequacy of the initial rationale for their inclusion on the sanctions list, concluding that the actions against Aven and Fridman were unjustified.
Fridman has publicly decried the conflict as a tragedy and called for an end to the violence. He had been living in the UK but reportedly moved back to Moscow in the wake of tensions between Israel and Hamas.
Additionally, in a separate but related development, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions against four board members of Alfa Group, including Aven and Fridman, last year.
The legal struggle does not necessarily end with the General Court’s ruling. Decisions made by this court may be escalated to the European Court of Justice, the highest court in the EU, for an ultimate judgement.
This court outcome punctuates a notable sticking point about the effectiveness and precision of international sanctions, and it raises questions about due process in the imposition of sanctions. While this legal victory is sure to be celebrated by Fridman and Aven, the broader implications for EU policy and enforcement are being closely watched by both proponents of the sanctions regime and those calling for a more nuanced approach in targeting individuals linked to geopolitical disputes.
