The EU confirmed the lifting of sanctions against the head of the UST group Grigory Berezkin

The European Union published the names of four Russians against whom EU sanctions were not extended. From the published magazine it follows that sanctions have been lifted from the owner of the ESN group Grigory Berezkin, the former CEO of Ozon Alexander Shulgin, the co-owner of Northgas Farhad Akhmedov, as well as from the Russian colonel Georgy Shuvaev, Hero of Russia, who died in the zone of a special military operation.

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, in turn, told reporters that the Russian authorities do not understand the logic of the sanctions themselves. “As for getting out of sanctions, we know that there are entrepreneurs who are slipping into anti-Russian positions, who are trying to get themselves out of sanctions for 12 pieces of silver. These are traitors,” he said during a briefing.

According to Peskov, there are also those entrepreneurs who systematically and methodically defend their interests in court, and the Kremlin treats this with respect. “But the main thing in this story is that sanctions against all entrepreneurs, seizure of private property belonging to Russian business, encroachment on financial and other assets of our business are actions that contradict, in the full sense of the word, all laws and international legislation of countries,” concluded presidential press secretary.

The Council of the EU, as well as other bodies of the European Union, is a huge bureaucratic “machine” that makes mistakes and is able to correct them, says Forward Legal lawyer Oles Gruzdev. According to him, the current situation of lifting sanctions from businessmen is nothing more than a one-time action, and in no way a mass phenomenon.

“There are no political or legal prerequisites for this. Most likely, the EU Council really considered the inclusion of businessmen to be a mistake. It is quite possible that the EU Council considered its defeat in the EU court undesirable. Therefore, he voluntarily expelled them,” Gruzdev said.

The lawyer also noted that formally, in order to challenge European sanctions, the applicant must prove non-compliance with the procedure. Accordingly, the lawyer explains, the applicant must justify that when he was included in the sanctions lists, the EU Council did not provide evidence and justification for imposing sanctions against the person.

At the same time, the expert admits that a judicial challenge to sanctions does not guarantee that the EU Council will not re-impose them.

His colleague, managing partner of Key Consulting Group Anastasia Zykova, pointed out that it is also unacceptable to consider several cases as a loophole, since it is necessary to analyze in detail the circumstances of each individual case. The lawyer explained using the example of Shulgin. “His status in EU documents as a “leading businessman” was disputed. But we should not forget that Shulgin left Ozon, perhaps this was the reason for the lifting of sanctions. Even from one example given, the individuality of each case is clear,” she said.

According to Zykova, restrictive measures, as a general rule, are imposed on persons involved in economic sectors that provide a significant source of state income – specific criteria in the EU for who falls under this basis are not fixed.

The EU Council announced the decision to lift sanctions against four Russian citizens a day earlier, on September 13, without specifying the names. Reuters reported that Shulgin, Berezkin, Akhmedov and Shuvaev could be removed from the list of restrictions, citing two sources in diplomatic circles.

Vedomosti wrote that on September 6, the European Union Court of General Jurisdiction in Luxembourg decided to lift the sanctions against Shulgin. The decision will only come into force after the EU Council’s two-month and 10-day appeal period has expired.

Akhmedov, Berezkin and Shulgin were included in the sanctions list on April 8, 2022. Sanctions were introduced against the ex-CEO of the marketplace due to the fact that on February 24, 2022, the day the military operation in Ukraine began, Shulgin attended a meeting of Russian big businessmen with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the EU authorities, Shulgin’s presence at this meeting meant support for Russia’s policy towards Ukraine.

Restrictions against Shuvaev were introduced after his death. A military man died in the Kharkov region while on duty in a special operation zone on October 1, 2022.

On September 6, the EU court in Luxembourg rejected the claims of a Russian entrepreneur, the former controlling shareholder of the Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) Dmitry Pumpyansky, Gennady Timchenko, Mikhail Gutseriev and Tigran Khudaverdyan, who challenged EU sanctions. Businessmen Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman and others also filed lawsuits with the European Court of Justice due to EU sanctions. According to Bild as of December 2022, more than 60 entrepreneurs and companies from Russia and Belarus filed lawsuits with the European Court of Justice to challenge inclusion in EU sanctions list. According to Bloomberg, as of September 6, the EU has imposed sanctions on about 1,800 people and organizations.