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Anti-Russian sanctions

EU lifts sanctions imposed earlier on four Russian nationals, Council of the EU says

The Council did not identify the specific individuals who have now been de-listed from the sanctions blacklist

© AP Photo/Francisco Seco

BRUSSELS, September 13. /TASS/. The European Union has decided to lift sanctions that had been imposed previously on four Russian nationals due to the alleged "threat to and undermining of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine," the Council of the European Union announced on Wednesday.

"In the context of a review of sanctions, the Council has also decided not to renew the [sanctions] listings of four individuals," the Council’s statement says.

The Council of the European Union did not identify the specific individuals who have now been de-listed from the sanctions blacklist. This will become public knowledge only in the near future upon publication of the relevant regulations in the Official Journal of the EU.

Reuters reported earlier, citing sources, that the European Union did not intend to renew sanctions previously imposed on businessman Grigory Berezkin, former Ozon head Alexander Shulgin, and businessman Farhad Akhmedov. The agency did not the name the fourth Russian national.

On September 6, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled to lift sanctions imposed by the European Union on Shulgin, but he will remain on the blacklist for at least another two months.

The EU has to date adopted numerous packages of economic sanctions against Russia and individual sanctions against Russian nationals due to the situation in Ukraine. These have included sanctions imposed on Russian businesspeople, journalists and companies. Last year, more than 60 businesspeople, including Berezkin, and Russian and Belarusian companies filed lawsuits with the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to challenge their inclusion in the EU sanctions list. The businesspeople stated that their fundamental rights had been violated, citing in particular the fact that their assets in the EU had been illegally frozen.

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