EU court upholds sanctions on Russian oligarch’s wife based on ‘common interests’

The European Court of Justice dismissed an appeal by Elena Timchenko challenging EU sanctions imposed on her as the wife of sanctioned Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko, ruling that family members can face restrictions when they share ‘common interests’ beyond family ties or formal business relationships.

The Court of Justice upheld a September 2023 General Court judgment that rejected Elena Timchenko’s challenge to sanctions imposed in April 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, confirming that the EU correctly applied its ‘association’ criteria to target her. 

She was originally sanctioned for participating in her husband’s public affairs via the Timchenko Foundation and thus benefitting from him. Gennady Timchenko was designated for supporting Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

The court found that EU sanctions can target persons associated with designated individuals when they are ‘linked by common interests’ that objectively go beyond family relationships, even without formal business or economic ties.

The concept of association ‘must be given a broad interpretation which therefore cannot be limited to persons associated by business links or economic or shareholding links’, the Court of Justice stated in last week’s ruling.

Elena Timchenko had argued that the EU’s interpretation was ‘arbitrary and erroneously broad’ and would allow sanctions based solely on family relationships, violating legal certainty principles. She claimed her charitable work through the Timchenko Foundation was unconnected to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Those arguments were rejected by the court.

The judges emphasised that preventing circumvention of sanctions justifies the broad interpretation of association with a designated person. 

‘The purpose of imposing restrictive measures on persons associated with other persons who are themselves subject to restrictive measures is to prevent the risk of those measures being circumvented,’ the ruling stated.

Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire with close ties to President Vladimir Putin, was among the first Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the EU following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Additional measures were imposed after the 2022 invasion.

The court ruling clarifies that family members of designated individuals can face restrictions based on shared activities and interests, even in charitable contexts, without requiring proof of direct involvement in sanctioned conduct.

An email to Elena Timchenko through the foundation that she runs with her husband didn’t receive an immediate reply.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:62023CJ0703