Two of Russia’s richest men get a pass from European court

European sanctions imposed on two of Russia’s best-known oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine have been annulled. The EU’s General Court said the bloc hadn’t presented sufficient evidence that Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, co-founders of Alfa Bank and billionaires many times over, had supported actions that harmed Ukraine, supported key Russian officials or benefitted from their decisions. The ruling is subject to appeal and doesn’t in fact leave either man free of sanctions since it only applies retrospectively to a period that ended last year. But it sets a precedent that could lead to similar rulings for dozens of other Russian business people, and it has angered those who want to hear explicit public condemnation of the war – at the very least – as the price of sanctions relief. There’s been no such thing from Fridman or Aven. Fridman has called the invasion a tragedy and said war “can never be the answer”, but has not criticised Putin for launching it. Both men have also clearly benefited from decisions by Putin and his officials while building their businesses over the past 24 years; a point the court appears to have chosen to ignore. Just as clearly, Europe’s sanctions regime isn’t working.