This week, the European Union (EU) may remove Formula 1 racer Nikita Mazepin, son of Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, and Violetta Prigozhina, mother of the late Wagner mercenary leader, from the sanctions list.
This was reported by sources of Radio Free Europe (RFE), UNN reports.
Details
European Union ambassadors are to remove Nikita Mazepin and Violetta Prigozhina from the bloc's sanctions list this week. EU diplomats tell RFE/RL that a compromise has been reached that will keep the sanctions in place. Context: Every six months, the sanctions list must be extended by unanimous consensus of the 27 EU member states. This time, however, two individuals will be removed from the blacklist.
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It was proposed to exclude Mazepin and Prigozhina, as the EU legal service, which monitors the judicial aspects of Brussels' sanctions policy, considers them “weak cases.
For reference
Nikita Mazepin is the son of Belarusian-Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, who is the majority shareholder and head of Uralchem.
In 2016, Nikita Mazepin became a Formula 1 driver, then signed a contract with the Force India team, according to which he became a development driver for the team.
In 2020, Mazepin found himself at the center of a scandal when he posted a video on social media of himself harassing a girl. Later, Mykyta Mazepin apologized and deleted the video, while fans demanded that he be excluded from the “royal race” participants.
After the start of Russia's major invasion of Ukraine, the European Union imposed sanctions on several thousand individuals and legal entities from Russia. Nikita Mazepin was among them. However, the racer won a court case in the EU in early 2024. The court ruled to lift the sanctions against Nikita Mazepin, but the son of a major businessman remained on the list of sanctioned persons. The reason is as follows: the court's decision applies exclusively to an earlier period of sanctions, but Brussels updated the lists with new criteria.
Violetta Prigozhina is the mother of the late Russian oligarch and Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin; she is an artist and art gallery owner. She won her trial in 2024 but remains subject to sanctions.
Prigozhin, who had long been a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died along with nine other people in a mysterious plane crash in August 2023, two months after he announced an uprising at the head of his private army, the Wagner Group, which seized part of Rostov-on-Don and was advancing toward Moscow.