Fridman, Aven and Mazepin remain on EU sanctions list

RIGA - Russian billionaire and Alfa-Group founder Mikhail Fridman, Russian billionaire Petr Aven and Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin as well as over 2,000 other persons remain on the European Union's (EU) list of sanctioned persons.

As LETA was told at the Foreign Ministry, an agreement was reached at the level of EU ambassadors on Friday to extend individual sanctions against persons threatening Ukraine's territorial integrity.

According to the ministry, the talks are taking place in an in-camera format; therefore, no comments on separate details or national positions, which is classified information, are provided until the talks are finalized.

The EU sanctions have been extended for the next six months - until September 15, 2025. The decision-making process is complicated, since decisions on the approval of sanctions at the EU level require unanimous agreement.

As reported, Fridman's assets in EU were frozen in 2022 and he has been banned from entering the bloc. Aven, who is a dual Russian-Latvian citizen, owns properties in Latvia. He was included in the EU sanctions lists as one of Putin's closest oligarchs whom he had consulted on a regular basis and who did not act independently from the Russian president. Aven and Fridman reportedly tried in various ways to secure the lifting of Western sanctions on Russia.

As media reported in February 2025, Fridman and Aven sold their shares in Russia's Alfa Bank to their partner Andrey Kosogov in 2024.

Fridman and Aven also sold their stakes in AlfaStrahovanie insurance company.

The Financial Times reported that the two billionaires had hoped that the sale of these holdings will help them appeal the EU sanctions. Unlike Fridman and Aven, Kosogov has not been subject to Western sanctions.

It was Avena's involvement in one of Russia's largest commercial banks that led to his inclusion in the EU sanctions list.

Aven and Fridman are sanctioned not only by the EU, but also by the US, the UK and other countries.

It was also reported that last year, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in April 2024 lifted the sanctions the EU Council had imposed on Aven and Fridman on February 28, 2022.

The Latvian Justice Ministry argued that the application of sanctions had been based on evidence that both Aven and Fridman had been providing active material or financial support to Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine.