In a judgment handed down on Wednesday 2 April (cases T-297/23 and T-298/23), the General Court of the European Union dismissed the two appeals lodged by Mr and Mrs Timchenko against the EU Council’s decision of March 2023 to keep them on the list of persons sanctioned by the EU for their actions that jeopardise the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.
Considered to be close to Vladimir Putin, Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko is a Russian-Finnish businessman who heads the Volga Group and is a shareholder in Bank Rossiya and PAO Novatek. His wife, Elena Petrovna Timchenko, is involved in her husband’s public affairs through the Timchenko Foundation.
Both were placed on the European list of persons sanctioned by the EU in February 2022, their first appeals on this subject having been dismissed in September 2023 (cases T-252/22 and T-361/22).
In its judgment, the General Court dismissed the actions for annulment brought by the spouses.
In its view, the EU Council had validly demonstrated that Mr Timchenko is an influential businessman operating in Russia and neither the principle of legal certainty nor that of legality had been breached in this case. Furthermore, the General Court states that the EU Council rightly established that Bank Rossiya’s investment policy contributed to the policy of annexation of Crimea by Russia and that Mr Timchenko financially supported the Russian President.
As regards Mrs Timchenko’s action, the General Court dismissed the five grounds of appeal put forward. In particular, it considers that the measures taken by the EU Council, namely an asset freeze and an EU travel ban, do not violate the principle of proportionality.
To see the General Court’s judgment (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/g7g (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)