The Court of the European Union rejected the request to lift sanctions against the wife of billionaire Melnichenko
On February 26, the European Court of Justice rejected lifting EU sanctions on the wife of Russian billionaire Andrey Melnicenko, founder of EuroChem and Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) companies, Aleksandra Melnichenko (also known as Sandra).
She was born and raised in Belgrade, but after the breakup of Yugoslavia she became a citizen of both Serbia and Croatia. In 2005 she married Andrey, and they now live in Switzerland.
In 2023 Andrey Melnichenko took the first place in Forbes magazine’s list of “110 Richest Russian Businessmen”. The total personal wealth of the businessman and his family is estimated at $25.2 billion.
Since 2022, Melnichenko and his wife have been under personal sanctions by all countries of Europe, the USA, Great Britain and Australia due to their support for Russia.
In 2022, the EU imposed sanctions on Alexandra Melnichenko as part of the sixth sanctions package. The basis of the sanctions is that she enjoys the fortune and benefits of her husband’s wealth.
In 2024, Andrey Melnichenko gave an interview to American journalist Tucker Carlson in which he said that sanctions would lead to the fall of traditional global institutions – trade with the help of the US dollar.
In 2023, the European Union renewed the sanctions against Melnichenko. According to the EU, she is the wife of Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, a Russian businessman who transferred his ownership and profits from EuroChem Group, a large fertilizer producer, and SUEK, a coal company, to her on 9 March 2022.
As evidence, the EU used data from the materials of the Celeb Family website, Forbes, the newspaper Kommersant, RBC, excerpts from the SUEK website and the EuroChem Group.
Aleksandra Melnichenko challenged the sanctions in an EU court, but the court ruled that she had not proven that the disputed information was unreliable.
