An EU court has removed war-related sanctions against prominent billionaires Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, in a surprise victory for the Russian oligarchs in their fight against western sanctions.
The European court ruled that the European council did not present enough evidence to establish that the billionaires were involved in efforts that “undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of
Ukraine.”
Fridman and Aven were placed on the EU sanctions list shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The EU council
announcing the sanctions in February 2022 called Aven “one of Vladimir Putin’s closest oligarchs” and stated that Fridman “has managed to cultivate strong ties to the administration of Vladimir Putin, and has been referred to as a top Russian financier and enabler of Putin’s inner circle”.
They are long-term partners who earned billions of dollars in Russia from oil, banking and retail.
Fridman and Aven, along with dozens of other Russian oligarchs, have challenged the sanctions in EU courts, describing them as “spurious and unfounded.”
Aven and Fridman remain on the UK sanctions list, where the two men used to reside before the war.
Aven, who has an estimated $5.5bn fortune, owns Ingliston House, near Virginia Water, on 8.5 acres of land in a gated estate next to Wentworth golf course.
Ukraine-born Fridman, who was listed as the UK’s 11th wealthiest person in the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated £11bn fortune, owns Athlone House, a £65m mansion in Highgate, north London.
Both men have given only guarded criticism of Putin’s war in Ukraine, with Fridman saying in the early weeks of the conflict that it was a “tragedy” and that war “can never be the answer”.
The court’s decision on Wednesday was slammed by the Russian opposition who argued the two Russian oligarchs have not been vocal enough about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine,
Leonid Volkov, a close ally of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, wrote on X: