UKRAINE Law and Practice Contributed by: Denys Bugay, Volodymyr Vashchenko and Denys Shkarovsky, VB Partners
blogger-propagandist, and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus. These sanctions are a fairly effective mechanism and may be quickly and easily applied. However, there is a risk that the speed and ease of the procedure, dic - tated by political expediency, may be adversely evalu - ated when challenging such decisions in international institutions. The most significant court decision was adopted in February 2025, when the Supreme Court adopted a decision to lift sanctions imposed on a French citizen and former top manager of one of the world’s largest financial groups. In February 2023, the President of Ukraine imposed sanctions on an individual for holding a management position in a Russian bank at the time the sanctions were applied. Sanctions were mistakenly imposed. As of the date of sanctions imposition, the individual did not hold any positions in a Russian bank – they had resigned in 2020. This became the first decision on lifting sanctions imposed by the current President of Ukraine – Volo - dymyr Zelenskyy – and will be reviewed by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. 3.2 Future Developments The most awaited upcoming development is crimi - nalisation of sanctions violation and circumvention. As discussed in 2.2.2 Breaching Sanctions and 3.1 Significant Court Decisions or Legal Developments , in January 2025, the President of Ukraine registered in the Parliament a draft law on the Criminalisation of Violations or Intentional Circumvention of Sanctions. The draft law was prepared on the basis of Direc - tive (EU) 2024/1226 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 April 2024 on the definition of criminal offences and penalties for the violation of Union restrictive measures and amending Directive (EU) 2018/1673. The draft law proposes amendments to: (i) The Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions”, (ii) The Criminal Code
of Ukraine and (iii) The Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. The key amendments are: • introduction of a prohibition on violation/circum - vention of sanctions; • definition of the notion of “sanctions circumven - tion”; and • introduction of a new crime: violation of sanctions and/or intentional circumvention of sanctions. On 3 June 2025 the draft law passed its first reading. Taking into account that the draft law was registered by the President of Ukraine, there is a high chance that sanctions violation and/or circumvention will be criminalised soon. The procedures for both imposing and lifting sanc - tions are not sufficiently transparent. There are two mechanisms for lifting sanctions imposed by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine: (i) in court proceedings and (ii) administratively. Judicial Procedure for Lifting Sanctions Administrative cases regarding the appeal of the Decrees of the President of Ukraine on imposing sanc - tions are considered by the Supreme Court as part of the panel of the Administrative Cassation Court, con - sisting of at least five judges (court of first instance). Appellate review is carried out by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. 4. Delisting Challenges 4.1 Process Consideration and resolution of cases in administra - tive courts are carried out on the basis of competition between the parties and their free provision to the court of evidence and in proving their persuasiveness before the court. A number of problems with respect to competitiveness in sanctions disputes can be iden - tified, as follows. • Before the start of legal proceedings, the per - son who has suffered restrictions generally lacks information about the initiator and the reasons for
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