The European Union (EU) has removed sanctions against three Russian businessmen, Grigory Berezkin, Farkhad Akhmedov, and Alexander Shulgin, who were accused of supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions were renewed for another six months, but the EU decided not to renew the listings of these four individuals.
The EU has described Berezkin, whose ESN group has interests in media and energy, as close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The bloc also said that Berezkin's firms were "materially supporting" the government of the Russian Federation.
The billionaire oil and gas businessman Akhmedov, who was born in Azerbaijan, was alleged to be a Kremlin loyalist. In spite of numerous legal challenges from Russian oligarchs over their inclusion on the list, the EU has decided to lift the sanctions against these three businesspeople.
On the second day of the war, Shulgin, the former CEO of the e-commerce site Ozon, attended a high-profile meeting between Putin and Russian oligarchs to rally support for the invasion from the business community.
