Who's next in line to have their sanctions lifted?

Last month, it was revealed that the European Union had lifted sanctions against several Russians, including Vladimir Rashevsky, the former CEO of EuroChem, one of the world’s largest fertiliser producers.

According to the Financial Times, the EU Council of Ministers suggested lifting sanctions against Rashevsky following a successful court challenge in 2024.

Rashevsky was added to the EU sanctions list in 2022 as a “leading businessperson ... involved in an economic sector providing a substantial source of revenue” for the Russian government. However, immediately after the sanctions were imposed, in March 2022, he stepped down as CEO of EuroChem. Following two years of complex legal proceedings, the General Court of the EU ruled that there were no grounds for continuing sanctions against Rashevsky.

“Although the applicant’s position as CEO of EuroChem served to justify his initial listing, the same cannot be said for the maintenance of his name on the lists at issue,” court documents stated.

According to the same documents, sanctions lists “are based on a periodic review of the restrictive measures in order to enable the Council of the EU to take account of any changes in circumstances concerning, in particular, the individual situation of the persons subject to them. However, the Council has failed to adduce any evidence relating to the applicant… explaining why he was still to be regarded as a leading businessperson.”

The Financial Times once described the EU sanctions lists as “hasty”. A wide range of individuals have been added to those lists, from Forbes billionaires to ordinary executives of private companies– such as the former CEO of the polymer company Sibur, Dmitry Konov, and Yandex’s managing director, Tigran Khudaverdyan – who had merely attended a meeting between business leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022.  All of the sanctioned individuals consider the restrictions unlawful and have challenged them in court, but only a few have been successful so far.

In 2023, the former CEO of the e-commerce platform Ozon, Alexander Shulgin, managed to get his EU sanctions lifted. Like EuroChem’s Rashevsky, Shulgin was able to prove that he was no longer an executive of a major company and, therefore, could no longer be considered one of the country’s “leading businessmen”.

Other executives – such as Lev Khasis, former First Deputy CEO of Sberbank, and Elena Titova, a board member of Otkritie Bank – also had their personal sanctions lifted in the UK and the US on similar grounds.

In 2024, Arkady Volozh, the founder of the tech company Yandex – often referred to as “Russia’s Google” – successfully challenged his EU sanctions. He had publicly condemned Russia’s military operation in Ukraine and divested from his Russian assets.

This month, the EU also lifted sanctions against the sister of the industrial tycoon Alisher Usmanov. Earlier, in 2024, sanctions were lifted against the racing driver son of the billionaire Dmitry Mazepin.

Clearly, there are no signs of a political thaw between Europe and Russia. However, the process of lifting personal sanctions against Russian business leaders is gradually moving forward. Although this by no means signals an end to the pressure on Russia’s business elite, the EU officials have started understanding that their actions shall not be blind and senseless, so their approach has similarly started changing.

“It has become clear that legally challenging personal sanctions works”, said a lawyer involved in several such cases who wished to remain anonymous. “Now, EU officials pay more attention to the legal justification for sanctions – specifically, proving the ties of certain Russian businessmen to the Kremlin and their support for the war. If there is no solid evidence, contesting sanctions becomes easier.”

According to the same lawyer, the legitimacy of sanctions against top executives of major companies who resigned immediately after the sanctions were imposed appears particularly weak. Such executives include Konov, Sibur’s former CEO: last December, a court partially agreed with his lawyers’ arguments for removing sanctions. After the precedent set by Rashevsky, Konov too may have a chance of being removed from the sanctions list in the next review cycle in six months. Though in his situation, the EU Court had a sceptical view with regards to particular evidence on his previous occupation in ALROSA, this may change in the nearest future, as for example from grounds for his designation in the UK, it is clear that the UK regulator has already agreed with him leaving ALROSA. Current EU practice shows that taking no real positions in business entities shall result in the lifting of sanctions.

Former executives of private companies and individuals sanctioned solely due to their family ties appear to be the most likely candidates for sanctions relief under the current circumstances. While geopolitical tensions between the EU and Russia persist, the legal justification for sanctions has become an increasingly important factor that cannot be ignored.

If a person is merely a relative of a tycoon or a top manager who has left the position that classified them as a “leading businessperson”, maintaining personal restrictions against them appears to be selective enforcement of the law, bordering on discrimination.

This is clearly what EU officials also started understanding – spending more of own time for unreasonable designations takes more precious resources, preventing them from focusing on other workloads and leading to losses in the EU Court, violations of their own legislation and basic human rights, as well as a lack of practical results from the sanctions at the end of the day. Therefore, the progress in the lifting of ungrounded or unseasonable sanctions is obvious, though not fast, but it seems to be the right approach.

Photo by Guillaume Périgois on Unsplash

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