On May 13, the EU Court of Justice upheld the claim of Russian billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev for the lifting of EU sanctions extended against him in February 2025. In the court, the billionaire claimed that he had abandoned a significant part of the business, just 11 days before the first EU sanctions. The billionaire refused not only that.
The EU imposed the first sanctions against Mikhail Gutseriev in 2021, and then they were extended. In 2025, the grounds for extending the sanctions stated that Gutseriev had business interests in Belarus in the energy sector, the potash industry, the hotel business, and other sectors. He is a long-time acquaintance of President Lukashenko, and through this connection, he has accumulated significant wealth and influence among the political elite in Belarus.
In the court, Gutsieriev’s lawyers stated that the businessman has no business interests in Belarus since June 2022, and that he is no longer the chairman of the board of directors or a shareholder of JSC Mospromstroi, Industrial Financial Group Safmar JSC, LLC Proekt Grad, and that Gutseriev transferred most of his shares in Russneft and Neftis to his brother on June 10, 2021, 11 days before the initial sanctions were imposed.
Gutseriev’s statements about his relationship with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko are also interesting. SanctionsLists.org provides several quotes from the court’s decision:
“The applicant submits, in essence, that he was a mere acquaintance of President Lukashenko and that, as someone who had invested substantial funds in Belarus, he maintained professional relations with the political leadership there as a matter of prudence. However, the applicant asserts that he has not had any communication with President Lukashenko for a considerable period of time.”
“He (Gutseriev) also denies having facilitated the victory of President Lukashenko’s daughter-in-law in the ‘Chanson of the year 2024’ competition organised in Russia by his radio station (Radio Chanson). Lastly, the applicant acknowledges that he has accumulated considerable wealth, but argues that this is not because of his links with President Lukashenko and that, in any case, he no longer derives any wealth from his investments in Belarus, in particular on account of the fact that the Nezhinsky project was nationalised.”
