Violeta Prigozhina’s name might not be familiar to many, but her son is Yevgeniy Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner mercenary group. More than a year ago, the European Union included her on a list of sanctioned people, a measure that she appealed.
And the General Court of the European Union agreed yesterday and annulled the decision, because it considers that the relationship between the two “is not enough” to justify the restrictions.
On February 23, shortly after Vladimir Putin’s incendiary speech in which he recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, and just before the invasion of Ukraine began, the European Union approved a new list with almost 400 sanctioned people, including which was Violetta Prigozhina.
European countries included it for being the owner of Concord Management and Consulting LLC, belonging to the Concord group, a company founded by his son, and of which he owned until 2019.
In addition to being linked to other Prigozhin companies, whose group of mercenaries “has benefited from important public contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense after the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and the occupation of Eastern Ukraine,” reads the decision of the Court.
Given the situation, the countries considered it proven that Violeta Prigozhina supported “acts and policies that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”
However, according to the sentence there is no evidence of this. According to Prigozhina’s evidence, she “since 2017 she no longer owns Concord Magament and Consulting, although she had been the owner of certain parts.” The order also ensures that the Council of the EU [institution that represents the Twenty-seven] “has not shown that it owned other companies linked to his son” at the time the sanctions were adopted.
Thus, in the absence of other evidence, the only reason Prigozhina was sanctioned was simply “relationship” to her son, which cannot justify listing.
Prigozhin has become particularly well known in recent weeks for accusing the Russian army of wanting to “destroy” his company and threatening Moscow that if more ammunition is not sent and his mercenaries must withdraw from Bakhmut “the entire front will be lost.”
It is the first time that European justice has annulled European sanctions against Russian citizens or entities since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, although the sentence can still be appealed before the highest instance, the Court of Justice of the EU.
In this sense, the Council will analyze the sentence before deciding whether to appeal it, explain European sources. Among the options that are being considered is that of the appeal itself, that of including Prigozhina again on the list of sanctions with new arguments or that of withdrawing the restrictive measures.
After a year since the invasion of Ukraine, the European Union must approve the extension of sanctions on Russian individuals and entities, which include 1,473 people and 205 companies, including Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who were sanctioned shortly after the outbreak of the war.
In any case, work is accumulating for the European courts, there are more than 100 cases related to decisions on people sanctioned since the war began.
