UPDATE 3: EU court dismisses Rosneft, banks claims to lift sanctions

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LUXEMBOURG, Sep 13 (PRIME) -- The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg on Thursday dismissed claims of Russian oil majors Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, defense system producer Almaz-Antey, and state banks Sberbank, VTB, and Vnesheconombank (VEB) seeking to lift the sanctions introduced in 2014.

A representative of Rosneft told reporters the company believes the court’s decision is unjustified and politicized.

“As part of today’s decision, the court was obliged to conduct its own assessment of the facts of the case and arguments of Rosneft and make an independent decision, which was not done. These decisions (including the decision by the European Court of Justice in March 2017) are illegal, unfounded and politicized. The E.U. judicial system has not passed test for independence,” he said.

“The court recognized the legality of the sanctions, despite the fact that the participants of the process failed to provide any evidence or grounds for their introduction both in that and this processes.”

Rosneft will continue to defend interests of its shareholders from the influence of illegal sanctions restrictions, the spokesperson said.

Sberbank is disappointed with the court’s decision and will consider future steps in this respect, a spokesperson for the bank told PRIME.

A representative of Gazprom Neft said that the company needs to analyze the court decision before deciding what to do.

Igor Krasnov, senior vice president, head of the legal department at VEB, told PRIME that the bank is analyzing the court decision and reserving the right to contest it.

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