European Court dismisses Russian billionaire Abramovich's lawsuit against EU sanctions

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on Wednesday, December 20, rejected the complaint of Russian businessman Roman Abramovich against the decision of the European Union to put him on the sanctions list against the background of Russia's armed invasion of Ukraine, DW reports, according to UNN. 

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Abramovich was added to the EU sanctions list along with Russian officials, businessmen and oligarchs in March 2022.  The European Union said he "has long-standing and close ties to Vladimir Putin" and "had privileged access to the president and maintained very good relations with him."

According to the EU, these ties allowed the tycoon to "preserve his considerable wealth" and thus "he benefited from Russian leaders responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine." 

The EU also pointed out that Abramovich, as one of Russia's leading businessmen, provided "a significant source of income for the Russian government."

In his lawsuit, the businessman called the decision an "unjustified interference" with his fundamental rights enshrined in EU law and stated that there was a "clear error" in the European Union's assessment. The court was not convinced by these arguments.

Recall 

In May, Abramovich filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Justice over the sanctions imposed on him. 

In May, billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petro Aven also filed their respective lawsuits . The Russian state corporation VEB.RF and its chairman Igor Shuvalov, the son-in-law of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Alexander Vinokurov, businessmen Dmitry Pumpyansky, Vadim Moshkovich, Igor Kesayev, Andrey Melnichenko, and Dmitry Mazepin also filed a lawsuit .  One of the first to file a lawsuit with the European Court was billionaire Alisher Usmanov, whose personal sanctions were imposed by Brussels on February 28.