The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven should not have been included on a sanctions list for the period of February 2022 to March 2023. The two tycoons, who founded Russia's Alfa Bank, were placed on the bloc's sanctions list for being close to President Vladimir Putin and for financing the Kremlin's ongoing aggression against Ukraine. The court said none of the reasons given by the European Council for the inclusion of the two men on the list were "sufficiently substantiated." In March 2023, the EU reimposed the restrictive measures on the two men. They have lodged a separate legal appeal against that action.
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