Russia: EU Court upholds sanctions against Abramovich

Brussels – Russia’s war in Ukraine: Roman Abramovich loses yet another court case. The judges in Luxembourg have dismissed the appeals lodged by the Russian oligarch, the former chairman of Chelsea, who is considered close to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, and is the main shareholder of Evraz, one of the country’s leading steel groups. Subject to European Union sanctions in 2022, Abramovich had already challenged the decision once before in 2023, but lost. Due to his role, the Council of the EU decided to extend sanctions against him, and Abramovich also appealed the decision. Once again, in a judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union has rejected the Russian oligarch’s appeals. 

The criteria for applying the sanctions “are objective, sufficiently precise and proportionate,” the judges in Luxembourg said. These criteria “target leading businesspersons operating in Russia, in a context where the main economic operators have close ties to the State,” and “they target those acting in sectors which generate significant revenues for the Russian Government, by clearly referring to activities of non-negligible importance, which are sources of funding for that government’s actions and policies.” This is why the sanctions against Abramovich remain in place.