The European Union’s General Court in Luxembourg dealt Roman Abramovich another legal defeat on Wednesday, dismissing the Russian-Israeli-Portuguese businessman’s third attempt to have his name struck from the bloc’s sanctions list over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Abramovich, best known internationally as the former owner of Chelsea Football Club, was placed under EU asset-freeze and travel-ban measures shortly after Moscow’s February 2022 assault on its neighbour, alongside dozens of other prominent Russian businessmen deemed to be benefiting from or supporting the Kremlin.
In its ruling, the General Court rejected Abramovich’s contention that Brussels was singling him out unfairly because of his high public profile, dismissing his argument that the bloc sought to “exploit him on account of his public notoriety.”
Judges instead found that his listing rested on sound legal footing: his significant shareholdings in Evraz, one of Russia’s largest steel and mining conglomerates, and in Norilsk Nickel, both companies the court said generate a substantial source of revenue for the Russian government.
According to reporting on the judgment, the court found the designation criteria used against him to be objective, sufficiently precise, and proportionate, and concluded the measures comply with EU fundamental rights requirements.
The court also rejected his argument that the sanctions had effectively been decided by Council working parties rather than through the proper legal process.
Beyond seeking annulment of the measures, Abramovich had also sought damages for reputational and non-material harm, a claim of roughly €1 million in provisional compensation, which the court likewise turned down.
Wednesday’s ruling marks the third time Abramovich has failed in his effort to escape the sanctions regime, following unsuccessful challenges in 2023 and again in 2025.
Each time, the Council of the EU has renewed and, where necessary, refined its case against him as the measures come up for periodic review, a process that has seen his listing extended multiple times, including through 15 September 2025 and then to 15 March 2026.
Notably, this judgment does not close the book on Abramovich’s legal battle with Brussels. A separate challenge, filed on 26 May against the Council’s most recent extension of the sanctions in March 2026, remains pending before the General Court. That extension, which pushed the wider individual sanctions regime, currently covering roughly 2,600 individuals and entities, out to 15 September 2026, is due for further review by the Council in the coming days.
Abramovich is far from alone in contesting his EU listing. He is one of a substantial cohort of wealthy Russian businessmen who have turned to the EU courts since 2022 in hopes of having sanctions lifted, arguing variously that the measures are disproportionate, legally flawed, or based on stale evidence of Kremlin ties.
Courts in Luxembourg have, in several individual cases involving other oligarchs, sided with claimants and annulled specific listings, but Abramovich’s case has proven more durable for Brussels, given his substantial and well-documented stakes in strategically important Russian industrial firms.
For now, the ruling means Abramovich remains subject to the EU’s asset freeze and entry ban, with his fortune and access to the bloc still locked out pending the outcome of his separate, ongoing challenge to the sanctions regime’s most recent renewal.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Roman Abramovich has now lost his third consecutive legal challenge against EU sanctions, with the court affirming that his stakes in Russian metals giants Evraz and Norilsk Nickel, both major revenue sources for the Kremlin, justify his continued blacklisting.
Despite repeated attempts, the legal basis for his sanctions remains solid in the court’s eyes, and he stays frozen out of EU access, though a separate challenge to the sanctions’ most recent renewal is still pending.
