Михаил Гуцериев. Скриншот видео Forbes Talk
The General Court of the European Union on May 13 annulled EU sanctions against Russian businessman Mikhail Gutseriev (Mikail Safarbekovich Gutseriev), imposed over the situation in Belarus and support for the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The court ruled that the Council of the EU had not provided sufficient evidence that in 2025 Gutseriev continued to support the Belarusian authorities or benefit from ties with them.
Gutseriev had been under EU sanctions since 2021. Brussels claimed that the businessman was close to Lukashenka, had significant interests in Belarus in the energy, potash and real estate sectors, and supported the Belarusian regime politically and economically.
The court’s decision says the Council of the EU relied mainly on outdated facts and did not properly reassess the businessman’s situation before extending the sanctions in February 2025. The court noted that restrictive measures must be based on current and specific evidence of continued support for the regime.
One of the key episodes in the case was the project for the Nezhinsky mining and processing plant in Belarus, linked to the company Slavkaliy. The court accepted as convincing the evidence that the project had been nationalized by the Belarusian authorities and that Gutseriev’s structures had lost control over it back in 2023.
The court also rejected the Council of the EU’s arguments about the businessman’s continuing interests in Belarus’ oil sector. The decision notes that references to oil supplies to Belarus during the 2020 energy dispute do not prove the existence of active business ties in 2025.
The court separately considered claims about Gutseriev’s personal closeness to Lukashenka. The judges acknowledged that close relations had existed between them in the past, but said the Council of the EU had failed to prove that those ties remained in place when the sanctions were extended.
The court also found that aid to Belarus during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the delivery of medical scanners, was not sufficient grounds for sanctions.
The court noted that these events date back to 2020 and do not in themselves confirm continued support for the regime.
In its final decision, the court annulled the EU sanctions acts insofar as they concerned Gutseriev and ordered the Council of the EU to pay the legal costs.
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As a reminder, in late April 2026, Gutseriev visited Belarus and met with Homiel Regional Executive Committee chairman Ivan Krupko. The parties discussed the allocation of agricultural land for the development of agribusiness, investment in the agro-industrial complex and the development of farms.