Russia’s political system not proof of corporate control – EU court

The nature of Russia’s political system cannot by itself prove that sanctioned individuals control Russian-linked companies, judges have ruled The EU’s top court has rejected claims that the nature of Russia’s political system can be used as the sole justification to freeze assets belonging to Russian-linked companies, after bloc member Lithuania cited Russian President Vladimir Putin when taking action against an electricity supplier. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) made the finding on Thursday in a case involving Lithuania’s 2022 decision to freeze the funds of electricity supplier Inter Rao Lietuva, which was not itself on the EU sanctions list.The company operated in Lithuania as an independent importer and supplier of electricity. Some 51% of its shares are owned by Finland-based RAO Nordic, which is in turn wholly owned by Inter RAO, a major Russian state-controlled power company.The freeze severely disrupted Inter Rao Lietuva’s operations, with the company launching insolvency proceedings after saying it could no longer meet its obligations to creditors.The authorities in Vilnius claimed that Inter Rao Lietuva was ultimately controlled by Russian President ...