BRUSSELS -- The European Union has retroactively canceled some sanctions against Andriy Klyuyev, the former head of the ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration, but did not lift sanctions against him that were prolonged in March.
The EU's general court on July 11 ruled that restrictive measures imposed by the Brussels against Klyuyev for the period March 2017- March 2018 that consist of asset freezes should be annulled.
Those sanctions against Klyuyev and 12 others were extended in March 2018 for another year, and Klyuyev will not be completely removed from the sanctions list unless the extension of sanctions beyond March is also canceled.
Klyuyev has appealed the current measures and a ruling is expected later this year.
The court concluded that, since Klyuyev informed the European Council that Ukrainian criminal proceedings against him had been suspended before the renewal of the bloc's restrictive measures, the council should have sought clarification on the issue from the Ukrainian authorities.
Klyuyev, Yanukovych, and 11 associates of the former president remain under EU sanctions for the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds.
The EU imposed the asset freezes shortly after the collapse of Yanukovych's government in February 2014.
Andriy's brother, Serhiy Klyuyev, was removed from the list earlier this year. Serhiy, who was a businessman and lawmaker from Yanukovych's Party of Regions, was the nominal owner of Mezhyhirya, the lavish Yanukovych residence outside Kyiv which is now a museum.
