Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who fell under the sanctions of the European Union in connection with the well-known events in Ukraine, is convinced that the European authorities are obliged to compensate him for the damage caused.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Abramovich stated this requirement in a lawsuit in which he insists on lifting the restrictive measures imposed on him. The billionaire noted that in 2021 he received Portuguese citizenship, and the imposed sanctions violate his fundamental rights protected by the European Union, which Portugal is a member of.
Abramovich demanded that European Union authorities make amends by donating $1 million to a charitable foundation set up to receive proceeds from the sale of English football club Chelsea. In May, the billionaire sold the club to a consortium of investors for £4.25 billion ($5.2 billion).
Earlier, Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that about 30 Russian citizens who were on Western sanctions lists went to court demanding to be removed from them. Among them, in addition to Roman Abramovich, are billionaires Andrei Melnichenko, Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman.
Meanwhile, ten more Russians have applied directly to the authorities of the European Union to lift the sanctions. According to the agency, on July 13, the legal service of the European Council notified the ambassadors of the member countries that some of these ten appeals were justified. After examining the information provided by the applicants, the lawyers concluded that in a number of cases the grounds for imposing sanctions were “weak, outdated or erroneous”. In this regard, the European Union is discussing the possibility of lifting sanctions restrictions on individual Russian citizens.
