“Bribery of billionaires”: Professor Zubets explained the lifting of EU sanctions on Russians

Why were three businessmen excluded from the sanctions list?

For the first time, the European Union lifted individual sanctions against our businessmen. The head of the Unified Social Tax, Grigory Berezkin, the ex-head of Ozon, Alexander Shulgin, and the former gas magnate and now private investor Farhad Akhmedov were excluded from the list of those being persecuted. Why the sanctions against these businessmen were not extended, and whether it can be said that the West is embarking on a consistent “rehabilitation” of Russian business – MK looked into it.

In principle, it is too early for the three “lucky” domestic entrepreneurs, against whom European sanctions cease to apply, to relax. Although the EU Council removed their names from the personal list of Russian businessmen subject to restrictions, this decision is temporary, it can be canceled after the European Union reviews all the incriminating documents prepared against our compatriots.

All three Russians were sanctioned in early April 2022 as part of the Fifth Package of EU restrictions. The formulations presented sounded rather vague: Akhmedov turned out to be a businessman too “close to the Kremlin”, providing “a significant source of income for the government,” and Berezkin, among other things, was called “Vladimir Putin’s henchman.” At the same time, Shulgin was reproached for taking part in a meeting of businessmen with the president in the Kremlin on February 24.

The named entrepreneurs immediately began to challenge the European verdict. Akhmedov already had experience in litigation with a serious opponent. He started his business in the late 1980s with the sale of sables on the London Mercantile Exchange, and then – just after long arbitration processes – he successfully sold a stake in the Northgas company, which owned the license to develop the large North Urengoy field. His fortune after the completion of all transactions exceeded a billion dollars.

Berezkin’s capital was formed in several areas: from raw materials, energy and petrochemicals to media. He was also included in the Forbes ranking of the richest businessmen in Russia with an estimated fortune of $750 million.

In the summer of 2022, both businessmen filed lawsuits in the European Court in Luxembourg, protesting against the sanctions and demanding the return of property, including seized yachts. The lawyers argued that their clients do not hold any political positions and “are not part of President Vladimir Putin’s circle.” However, the first person the EU decided to remove from its sanctions list was Shulgin, whose wealth, apparently, is inferior to the wealth of the rest of the “pardoned”. After two decades of working in senior positions in the Russian representative office of Coca-Cola and Yandex, in December 2017 he became the CEO of the Ozon group of companies with a stake worth a little more than $100 million. Shulgin took the sanctions more than seriously: immediately left the post of general director and board of directors of the holding. Perhaps EU officials took note of these steps and, on September 6, canceled the businessman’s inclusion in the sanctions lists.

The explanations given by the EU regarding the withdrawal of Akhmedov, Berezkin and Shulgin from sanctions pressure are not entirely clear, as are the reasons for their being subject to restrictions. In particular, the consequence of the revision of the status of entrepreneurs was that the European authorities agreed to consider sanctions from the point of view of “deprivation of the possibility of effective legal protection and violation of the fundamental rights” of the defendants.

In Russia, this logic is also not understood. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov spoke clearly about this. “It is not fully known on what basis Europe adds our businessmen to its restrictive lists and why it removes them from there. Entrepreneurs who slide into anti-Russian positions and try to get themselves out of sanctions for 12 pieces of silver are traitors. However, there are businessmen who systematically and methodically defend their interests in court. This is the right of any entrepreneur and we treat it with respect,” he noted.

According to Alexey Zubets, Doctor of Economics, Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the reasons for lifting sanctions from these three Russians are indeed not clear. Perhaps the Europeans actually listened to the businessmen’s objections and considered their cases impartially; or perhaps the entrepreneurs were rehabilitated according to a random principle: Brussels simply needed to “pardon” one of our compatriots.

“The European Union realized that collective punishment of a wide range of Russian millionaires with sanctions does not lead to the desired result: the business elite of our country, instead of being imbued with distrust of the authorities, on the contrary, demonstrated unity with the leadership of the state,” the expert believes. “So it’s too early to rejoice.”

The EU decided to change tactics and began to exclude Russian businessmen from the sanctions list. To some extent, this can be regarded as open bribery: with its “indulgences,” the West may try to set our entrepreneurs against the authorities, dragging them into an acute confrontation with the government.”