Oleksandr Pumpiansky, the son of Russian tycoon Dmytro Pumpiansky, has won an appeal against sanctions imposed by the European Union on entities and individuals supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an EU court announced on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Russian oligarch Dmytro PumpianskyPhoto: MAKSYM SHEMETOV / AFP / Profimedia

According to the decision, the EU Council recognized that as of March 9, 2022 – two weeks after the invasion of Ukraine and six months before the first sanctions – Pumpiansky was no longer the chairman and member of the board of directors of Sinara, nor the board of directors of Sinara or a member of TMK, which was the reason for its inclusion in the sanctions list.

The ruling by the General Court of the European Union – the first instance of the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) based in Luxembourg – said Pumpianski should be removed from the sanctions list, but rejected Pumpianski’s claim for compensation.

A court official said the EU now has two months to appeal the decision to the CJEU’s highest body.

Steel pipe manufacturer TMK OJSC is a supplier of the Russian energy company Gazprom. Sinara is a Russian investment bank. The EU said that both firms support the Russian government and Russian state-owned enterprises and benefit from this cooperation.

In September, an EU court rejected an appeal against sanctions by Russian tycoon Gennady Timchenko, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In March, the mother of the late mercenary leader Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin won a rare victory against sanctions. At that time, the court’s decision did not have immediate practical effect, as it remained sanctioned by separate decisions.

The EU has imposed sanctions against almost 1,700 individuals and organizations because of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

A representative of the court said that about 74 Russians appealed the EU sanctions to the court in Luxembourg.

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