Among the array of European sanctions imposed

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The European Court of Justice has made a precedent-setting decision, ruling to lift sanctions against former Ozon CEO Alexander Shulgin, introduced in April 2022. Before that, there had only been decisions to lift sanctions against relatives of businessmen

The Luxembourg-based European General Court has ruled to lift EU sanctions against former CEO of online retailer Ozon Alexander Shulgin, imposed in April 2022, according to the text of a court ruling issued on September 6. The decision to lift sanctions against Shulgin will come into force after the deadline for appeal by the EU Council expires.

On 8 April 2022, the EU Council ecuador whatsapp resource imposed personal sanctions against Shulgin, justifying them by the fact that he is a "leading (influential) businessman" (leading businessperson) and CEO of Ozon. "On 24 February 2022, he [Shulgin] participated in a meeting of oligarchs in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin, where the course of action in light of Western sanctions was discussed," the EU justification said. This refers to Putin's meeting with Russian business (there were about 40 entrepreneurs and managers) on the day of the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.

on Russians after the start of the operation in Ukraine, this is a precedent: for the first time, a court has decided to lift sanctions on a "business person," Yuri Shumilov, a partner at the Brussels law firm Acquis and a specialist in sanctions, told RBK. Before this, there were only court decisions to lift sanctions on relatives of sanctioned businessmen - Yevgeny Prigozhin's mother Violetta and Dmitry Mazepin's son Nikita (the last decision was partial and concerned only Nikita Mazepin's professional activities as a race car driver, while the sanctions were otherwise retained).

On April 11, 2022, Shulgin resigned as CEO of Ozon and resigned from the board of directors due to sanctions imposed against him. The Council of the European Union later adjusted the wording in the justification for the sanction, clarifying that Shulgin is the former head of Ozon. However, the justification retained the reference to Shulgin being "involved in economic sectors that provide a significant source of income for the government" of Russia.

Shulgin challenged the EU's position that he could be described as a "leading businessman". It cannot be ruled out that even after the resignation of the CEO of such a large Internet group as Ozon, he can still be considered an influential businessman, the court argued, but the EU Council did not provide any evidence why this should be true of the former head of Ozon.

"The main issue for the court was precisely his managerial role as CEO of Ozon, and the fact that he left it obviously became the determining factor," Shumilov explained.

The most important element of the Shulgin decision is that the court actually defined what a "leading businessperson" is, the lawyer emphasizes (the EU Council did not define this expression). According to the court, the EU Council put the following meaning into it: either a businessman who is at the top of the ranking of businessmen, or a person who is not there, but who can nevertheless be considered as such due to his role in the largest companies or the size of his assets.