Помимо Воложа, из санкционного списка Евросоюза исключены и ряд других россиян, в том числе командир ЧВК «Вагнер» Дмитрий Уткин. При этом основатель ЧВК Пригожин все еще числится под санкциями.
Co-founder of «» Arkady Volozh has been removed from the European Union sanctions list. The corresponding changes to the list were published in the Journal of the European Council on Tuesday, March 12. In addition to Volozh, sanctions have been lifted from former vice-president of AFK «Sistema» Sergei Mndoyants and Slovak citizen Josef Hambalek, who heads the European branch of the motorcycle club «Night Wolves».
In addition, the European Union has removed a number of individuals from the sanctions list due to their deaths, including the commander of the Wagner PMC Dmitry Utkin, who died together with Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash in August of last year, State Duma deputies Nikolay Bortsov and Dmitry Zubarev, as well as Russia’s Deputy Minister of Defense Gennady Zhidko. However, Prigozhin himself remains on the list.
The document explains this decision by the fact that his son Pavel is also under sanctions and is the direct heir. As a result, it is «appropriate to maintain» sanctions against the assets of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
«There is a possibility that otherwise the corresponding assets will be used to finance Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine or other actions that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine,» the document says.
Sanctions due to the war between Russia and Ukraine
Arkady Volozh fell under European sanctions in June 2022 against the backdrop of Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine. Shortly after, Volozh stepped down from leadership positions at «Yandex» and its international subsidiaries.
In August 2023, Volozh spoke out against the actions of Russian forces for the first time since the beginning of the war, calling the invasion «barbaric». Shortly thereafter, it became known that the businessman had asked the European Union to lift the sanctions against him.
«Yandex», as of mid-March, is in the process of selling its Russian division. It is expected that a consortium of investors from Russia will gain control over the Russian «Yandex», while Arkady Volozh and foreign shareholders will split the Dutch company, which before the war included the largest Western funds.
