Luxembourg court rules not to lift sanctions imposed on Russian banks, companies

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has ruled not to lift EU sanctions imposed on Russian banks and companies after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014.

Claims to lift the sanctions were filed by Russia's Sberbank, VTB, Vnesheconombank (VEB), Rosneft, Gazprom Neft, and Almaz-Antey, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti wrote.

Rosneft said the European court's ruling is "illegal, unreasonable and politicized." The oil company was the first to appeal to the court about the unlawfulness of sanctions. In 2014, it lodged a complaint with the High Court of London against the actions of the British authorities. According to the company, the United Kingdom interpreted them too broadly, which led to additional unjustified restrictions on its operation in international markets.

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In January 2015, the London court redirected the claim of Rosneft to the European court. Similar claims were filed by Sberbank, VEB, Gazprom Neft, VTB, and Almaz-Antey.

Rosneft was challenging the sanctions against the oil sector, which were introduced in the summer of 2014. They prohibit the supply of equipment, services, works to produce oil in the Arctic, in the deep-sea shelf and at hard-to-extract deposits. These sectors are most dependent on foreign technology.

The EU Council in 2014 sanctioned certain sectors of the Russian economy over the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol and Russian aggression in Donbas. It also imposed sanctions against individuals and certain companies.