Recently the judicial practice on challenging sanctions imposed on Russian persons has begun to shape. We have already written about the first successful case with the participation of Russian person Dmitry Ovsyannikov, the former governor of Sevastopol, who managed to have himself excluded from the sanctions list.

Since that case was decided in February 2023, the sanctions removal practice has enriched by several other notable cases.

On October 23, 2023, the European Commission issued updated Consolidated FAQs on the implementation of Council Regulation No 833/2014 and Council Regulation No 269/2014 regarding the definition of criteria for control of companies.

The High Court of Justice on March 3, 2023 ruled on the dispute between UniCredit Bank (UK) and aviation companies Celestial Aviation Services Limited (Ireland, a subsidiary of AerCapHoldings N.V. (Netherlands)) and Constitution Aircraft Leasing (Ireland) on the issue of payment of funds under letters of credit of Sberbank.

On February 6, 2023, the EU official journal published news about delisting Dmitry Ovsyannikov, the former governor of Sevastopol, from the sanctions list. The exclusion was preceded by the decision of the EU court of 26 October 2022 following the review of Ovsyannikov's appeal.

The Government approved amendments to the Decree No. 851 dated 11.05.2022, updating the list of legal entities of foreign states, in respect of which special economic measures are applied.

In October 2022, the European Commission approved the eighth package of sanctions against Russia. Among other restrictions it established a ban on the provision of legal services to Russian companies. A few weeks later, on October 24, the European Commission published answers to frequently asked questions including explanations as to what kind of legal services fall under the ban and whether the extension of sanctions to this sphere does not entail restrictions on the right to protection.

Procedural codes are amended so that powers of prosecutor are extended. These amendments come into force on 18^th October 2022. These changes, among others, reflect new realities connected with the economic sanctions against Russia.

The National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) and OFSI as one of its members in July 2022 published “red alert” to provide information on some common techniques designated persons are suspected to be using to evade financial sanctions against Russia.

On March 04, 2022, the Council of Federation has approved and sent to the President the Federal Law “On Amending Certain Legislative Regulations of the Russian Federation” (the “Law”). This Law provides for a number of changes in the regulation of procurement and circulation of medical products (“MP”) and medical devices (“MD”), corporate and financial relations, and even social matters.