EU's top court says Russia sanctions are valid

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

The European Court of Justice on Tuesday ruled that sanctions against Russia adopted by the European Council due to the crisis in Ukraine were valid.

The court said the Council had adopted "restrictive measures" in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine.

It said these measures were on certain financial transactions and on the export of particularly sensitive goods and technologies.

They also restricted the access of certain Russian entities to the capital market and prohibited the provision of services required for select oil transactions.

"The objective of the measures adopted by the Council is to increase the cost of the actions taken by Russia to undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine," a court statement added.

The court also said one of the companies affected by the measures was Rosneft, which specializes in the oil and gas sector.

Rosneft said it was "disappointed" by the court’s decision.

The company described the court's decision as "illegal", "groundless" and "politicized".

"This decision proves that in Europe the rule of law is being substituted with the rule of politics," a company statement added.

Rosneft denied it had committed illegal actions in any jurisdiction, including Ukraine, adding it had no links to the crisis there.

Ukraine has been wracked by conflict since March 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea after an illegal independence vote.

This had followed violent anti-government protests which led to the overthrow of the then-president, Victor Yanukovich.

The UN General Assembly later voted to proclaim the Russian annexation illegal.

Along with many UN countries, the U.S., the EU and Turkey also do not recognize Crimea as Russian territory.