To base the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Violetta Prigozhina solely on her relationship with her son, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group deployed in Ukraine, is insufficient, the European General Court ruled on Wednesday 8 March (Case T-212/22).
As soon as Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine began in February 2022, the EU Council added numerous Russian personalities to its sanctions lists (CFSP Decision 2022/265), including Mr Prigozhin’s mother. According to the institution, Mrs Prigozhina, as the owner of a company belonging to the Concord Group owned until 2019 by her son, supported actions and policies that undermined the sovereignty of Ukraine.
The Court upheld Mrs Prigozhina’s application. The file shows that she has not owned the company since 2017, the Court notes. And the EU Council does not show that she owned other companies related to her son at the time of the adoption of the disputed acts.
Therefore, the link of association of the two persons established at the time of the adoption of the sanctions, and on which the EU Council relied, is based solely on their relationship. In light of the reasoning of the contested measures and the Court’s case-law, the Court concludes that such a circumstance is not sufficient to justify the inclusion of Mrs Prigozhina on the lists of Russian personalities sanctioned by the EU for infringing the sovereignty of Ukraine.
See the Court’s judgment (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/5p7 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)