The General Court of the European Union on Wednesday took Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven off an EU sanctions list.

It said that there isn’t sufficient evidence the two businessmen supported Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine.

“The General Court considers that none of the reasons set out in the initial acts is sufficiently substantiated and that the inclusion of Mr Aven and Mr Fridman on the lists at issue was therefore not justified,” the court said in a statement.  

Fridman and Aven, who are both major shareholders of Alfa Group, one of Russia's largest privately owned investment groups, have been under EU sanctions since late February 2022, shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The EU called Fridman “a top Russian financier and enabler of Putin’s inner circle” when it placed him on the sanctions list, while it said Aven was “one of Vladimir Putin’s closest oligarchs.”

But on Wednesday the court argued that while there might be “proximity between Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman and [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” there isn’t enough evidence to prove that the businessmen have supported the Kremlin’s war against Kyiv, or that they have “supported actions or policies” that undermine Ukraine.

Lawyers for the two Russian businessmen said the rulings were of “the utmost significance” and that all accusations leveled against them were “completely baseless.”

“Sanctioning them was a counterproductive mistake. They have nothing to do on the EU’s list nor any other list. We hope that today’s strong signal will be heard in the EU and outside,” the legal team, comprising Thierry Marembert, Aaron Bass and Roger Gherson, said in a statement to POLITICO.

The General Court is one of the chambers of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Additional reporting by Koen Verhelst. This story has been updated with comment from Fridman and Aven’s legal team .