Many oligarchs are affected by the sanctions against Russia.
(Photo: IMAGO/ITAR-TASS)
Brussels The EU will tighten its sanctions against Russia again this week. Among other things, she wants to ban gold imports from the country and freeze the assets of other influential Russians. The requirements for dual-use goods, which can be used for civil and military purposes, are also being expanded.
The 27 EU ambassadors in Brussels will make the decision on Wednesday. However, five months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU appears to be reaching the limits of its capabilities. After weeks of dispute about the oil embargo in the sixth sanctions package, there is no demand for further energy sanctions for the time being.
Instead, the Europeans are content with improvements to the previous sanctions packages, which were created in great haste. Those responsible therefore do not want to speak of a seventh package of sanctions. In Brussels people have become cautious.
According to the financial news service Bloomberg, even the first names could be removed from the sanctions list. In the first months of the war, the EU imposed entry bans and asset freezes on hundreds of individuals.
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However, last week the European Commission’s legal service informed EU ambassadors that the evidence was shaky in some cases. A commission spokesman did not want to confirm this on Monday. In principle, there is no comment on possible future decisions on sanctions. A number of oligarchs have already lodged complaints against the sanctions.
Oligarchs turn to EU Commission
Some, like steel magnate Alexei Mordashov and fertilizer entrepreneur Andrei Melnichenko, have approached the commission directly, asking them to be removed from the list. Others have gone to court: According to The Wall Street Journal, billionaires Roman Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov, Pyotr Aven and Mikhail Fridman have filed a lawsuit in the European Union General Court (EUG) in Luxembourg.
>> Also read: The insidious poison of sanctions – “Russia is becoming the backyard of the world economy”
The EUG is the instance that precedes the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The four men, who made their fortune with the help of Russian President Vladimir Putin, deny being close to the Kremlin and are calling for the sanctions to be lifted.
Experts in sanctions law give such lawsuits a good chance of success. First of all, the oligarchs would probably have applied for urgent legal protection, explains Frankfurt lawyer Viktor Winkler. This would usually be dismissed because the judges believe billionaires can absorb the damage they have suffered.
The Bermuda-registered luxury yacht Eclipse, said to belong to Russian oligarch Abramovich, is docked in a port in Marmaris, Turkey.
(Photo: dpa)
In the subsequent main proceedings, however, which deal with the legality of the sanctions, Winkler considers the chances to be “quite good” because the sanctions lists are partly poorly made. “I could imagine that the wording in individual cases is too vague for the judges,” he says.
“In many cases, the EU has unnecessarily made itself vulnerable.” If the state uses a justification such as “proximity to Putin’s circle of power,” a sanction is illegal, says Winkler. “Every judge will say: How am I supposed to check that in fact?” The lawyer sees other weak points.
Oligarchs want a return to the western lifestyle
So the sanctions were knitted with a hot needle. Therefore, the danger is great that factual claims are not correct. Also, sanctions should not actually punish past actions. The allegations against Abramovich, however, revolved around the past. “That is politically convincing, but not legally,” says Winkler.
Maria Shagina, sanctions expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, points out that there are many precedents for successful lawsuits against EU sanctions. As an example, she cites the 22 oligarchs and officials whom the EU once sanctioned for embezzling Ukraine’s state assets.
Only a handful remain on the list today. The motivation of the suing Russian oligarchs is clear to Shagina: “This is a step back to their Western lifestyle, which they lost because of the sanctions.” Meanwhile, the EU Commission has apparently underestimated the determination of the businessmen. “The expectation was that nobody would sue against their designation,” says Winkler.
More: The hunt for the fortune of Putin’s followers