(Bloomberg) -- Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman and his business partner Petr Aven won surprise victories in their fight against European Union sanctions over their alleged support for President Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine.

None of the reasons set out by the EU to justify sanctions for alleged ties with Putin are “sufficiently substantiated,” the bloc’s General Court ruled in Luxembourg on Wednesday. It ordered the EU to annul the restrictive measures it imposed from February 2022 to March last year. 

The EU failed to demonstrate that the two men “have supported actions or policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, or that they have provided material or financial support to the Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine,” the court said.

While Wednesday’s decision is a key victory for the pair, they are still covered by sanctions after their inclusion on an updated EU list last March. Their appeals against that step are still pending at the same EU court.

“The court rightly found that all accusations against Mr. Mikhail Fridman and Mr. Petr Aven were completely baseless” and sanctioning them “was a counterproductive mistake,” lawyers for pair said by email. “We hope that today’s strong signal will be heard in the EU and outside.”

Fridman told Bloomberg that he’s “satisfied with the court’s decision.”

Fridman and Aven are among Russia’s most prominent businessmen after making billions in banking, oil and retail. They are among the earliest post-Soviet billionaires, who sustained after Putin took power in 2000. Along with partners they pocketed $14 billion from the sale of oil company TNK-BP to state-controlled Rosneft in 2013.

They moved to the UK after to set up a private equity firm investing in businesses around the world. Aven currently lives in Latvia as he has a local passport, while Fridman left the UK last year for Israel and Moscow. In a hearing last year, Fridman’s lawyers argued that his life had been “destroyed” after being placed under EU sanctions.

Read More: Abramovich Loses EU Sanctions Appeal Over Alleged Putin Ties

Fridman and Aven’s win was unexpected after an appeal by their fellow parter German Khan was dismissed by the General Court in November. Fridman, Aven, Khan and former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich are among the many Russian billionaires who’ve flocked to the EU’s top courts to extricate themselves from EU sanctions, which imposed asset freezes and travel bans on them.

While EU court appeals of sanctions listings can succeed, they’re often just temporary victories. The EU frequently adds people back onto the sanctions list after a court defeat, based on new or broader justifications.

(Updates to clarify sanctioned status of the men in the second bullet point)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.