{"id":187415,"date":"2026-05-13T23:29:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T23:29:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:29:39","slug":"court-orders-eu-council-to-lift-sanctions-on-belarusian-rulers-russian-partner","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/","title":{"rendered":"Court orders EU Council to lift sanctions on Belarusian ruler\u2019s Russian partner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>May 13, <em>Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg has annulled the decision of the EU Council in 2025 to extend sanctions against Russian businessman Mikhail Gutseriev, who was targeted over his links to Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On May 13, the Court ruled that the Council had not proved that Gutseriev continued to have, at the time of the prolongation of the restrictive measures against him, \u201cbusiness interests in Belarus enabling him to be regarded as a prominent businessperson with substantial business interests in several sectors, such as potash, energy and commercial property, or as having a prosperous personal relationship with Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its judgement, the Court, citing the lack of evidence, says that the Council of the EU made \u201can error of assessment\u201d in finding that Gutseriev still had, on the date of adoption of the contested acts, interests in the potash sector in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court also acquitted Getseriev of enjoying preferential treatment from the \u0141uka\u0161enka regime as an investor in Belarus\u2019 energy sector. The Council of the EU cannot presume that, merely because two Russian companies, in which the applicant is a shareholder, supplied Belarusian refineries during the energy crisis between Belarus and Russia in 2020, the applicant still had interests in the energy sector in Belarus, even several years after that event, namely when the contested acts were adopted, the ruling says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court dismissed the Council\u2019s allegation that Gutseriev enjoys preferential access to the country\u2019s commercial property sector. \u201cAssuming that he is still the owner of the Renaissance Hotel in Minsk, the business centre and the airport terminal referred to in the statement of the contested acts, it should be noted that those interests do not, in themselves, allow him to be regarded as a prominent businessman in Belarus, since those interests are secondary to those in the potash sector, which are no longer relevant,\u201d the judgement says. \u201cTo accept the contrary would amount to introducing a presumption that any businessperson in Belarus supports or benefits from that regime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court also agreed with Gutseriev\u2019s arguments with regard to the controversial purchase of medical equipment for Belarus during the COVID pandemic. The Court says that even assuming that the applicant purchased scanners for Belarus during the COVID-19 crisis at the request of \u0141uka\u0161enka, those events are too far behind to prove that he continues to support the regime in Belarus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court ordered the Council of the EU to lift its restrictive measures against Gutseriev and to pay the legal costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The General Court of the European Union functions as a lower trial court of general jurisdiction, meaning its judgments and orders are not final and can be appealed to the higher Court of Justice of the European Union within two months, though such appeals are strictly limited to questions of law rather than a re-evaluation of the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gutseriyev\u2019s company Slavkaliy was involved in the construction of a potassium chloride plant near Luba\u0144, Minsk region. The businessman was sanctioned by the EU in June 2021 over his business links with \u0141uka\u0161enka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 13, Pozirk. The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg has annulled the decision of the EU Council in 2025 to extend sanctions against Russian businessman Mikhail Gutseriev, who was targeted over his links to Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka. On May 13, the Court ruled that the Council had not proved that Gutseriev continued to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":187395,"template":"","rubric":[21,16],"class_list":["post-187415","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rubric-economy","rubric-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Court orders EU Council to lift sanctions on Belarusian ruler\u2019s Russian partner | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"May 13, Pozirk. The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg has annulled the decision of the EU Council in 2025 to extend sanctions against\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court orders EU Council to lift sanctions on Belarusian ruler\u2019s Russian partner | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May 13, Pozirk. The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg has annulled the decision of the EU Council in 2025 to extend sanctions against\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-13T20:29:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gutseriev_rbk.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"510\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/\"},\"headline\":\"Court orders EU Council to lift sanctions on Belarusian ruler\u2019s Russian partner\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-13T20:29:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-13T20:29:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/\"},\"wordCount\":528,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gutseriev_rbk.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/\",\"name\":\"Court orders EU Council to lift sanctions on Belarusian ruler\u2019s Russian partner | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/187415\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gutseriev_rbk.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-13T20:29:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-13T20:29:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"May 13, Pozirk. 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