The EU General Court has annulled EU Council decisions from September 2024 and March 2025 sanctioning Russian businessman Dmitry Pumpyanskiy, shortly before a rollover decision on sanctions is due from the body.

Pumpyanskiy is a long-term resident of Geneva who previously held positions in companies formerly owned by his father, Russian businessman Dmitry Pumpyanskiy.

He was originally included in sanctions lists on the basis of positions he held in his father’s companies, but is now listed under the EU’s 2023 amended sanctions criteria, which include “close family members who benefit from listed individuals”.

The General Court annulled the Council’s sanction decision in 2023, noting procedural flaws and insufficient justification since Pumpyanskiy had resigned from his corporate positions. The Council did not appeal the decision, but subsequently renewed its sanctions decision against Pumpyanskiy in mid-March this year.

The Court has once again rejected the Council’s reliance on historic corporate roles to establish present qualification under the listing criteria.

Judges held that the Council could not regard “the mere fact” that Pumpyanskiy held relevant executive positions a year before the sanctions decisions as sufficient to justify listing him as a person providing material or financial support to the Russian Government.

Court decision precedes Council sanctions rollover

The ruling landed days before the EU’s Russia sanctions are scheduled for rollover by the EU Council on 15 September 2025.

“Any active relisting on essentially the same record—after three General Court annulments—would raise serious rule-of-law concerns about the effectiveness of judicial oversight in EU sanctions and the protection of fundamental freedoms,” Pumpyanskiy’s lawyers told Euronews.

In April a source familiar with the issue told Euronews that the EU Council was mulling the EU General Court second annulment decision related to Pumpyanskiy and considering whether it needed to take action on it.

Pumpyanskiy’s lawyers have also brought a claim for damages before the General Court against the Council for alleged harm caused by the sanctions.

Speaking to Euronews earlier this year, Pumpyanskiy related his experience of sanctions.

“The first thing is that your finances are affected. The banks block your accounts. That’s the first stage; after that, other problems follow: you’re cut from all the basic services that everyone needs, especially mobile phones, domestic internet,  insurance, cars, etc., so, bit by bit, daily life became extremely complicated for me.”

 The Council has been approached for comment.

Just one week after President Donald Trump met with Polish President Karol Nawrocki at the White House Russia fired some two dozen drones into the NATO nation on Wednesday.  

The assault prompted NATO allies to militarily respond to the apparent Russian attack, and for the first time brought Poland to the closest it has been to open conflict since World War II.

NATO WARNS RUSSIA AFTER POLAND SHOOTS DOWN ‘HUGE NUMBER’ OF DRONES THAT VIOLATED ITS AIRSPACE

The Kremlin on Wednesday claimed there is “no evidence” that the drones were of “Russian origin” after Andrei Ordash, Moscow’s chief diplomat in Poland who was summoned by Warsaw, told Russian state-owned media outlet RIA, “We see the accusations as groundless.”

“We know one thing – these drones were flying from the direction of Ukraine,” he added, according to a translation by a DW report. 

Ordash’s comments contradicted assessments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said that “at least two Russian drones that entered Polish territory during the night used Belarusian airspace. 

“In total, at least several dozen Russian drones were moving along the Ukraine-Belarus border and in the western regions of Ukraine, approaching targets in Ukraine and, apparently, Poland,” he added. 

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, in Washington.  (Evan Vucci/AP Photo )

Neither NATO, the White House nor Poland’s defense ministry immediately responded to questions by Fox News Digital on whether drones that reportedly entered Polish airspace did so intentionally. 

However, a White House official told Fox News Digital that “President Trump and the White House are tracking the reports out of Poland, and there are plans for President Trump to speak with the President Nawrocki today.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament on Wednesday that at least 19 Russian drones entered Poland’s airspace and eight crash sites were confirmed where they appear to have been shot down by NATO forces, though information on the exact figures is still being collected, reported the Associated Press. 

 An infographic shows a map of downed Russian drones in Poland that violated its airspace during strikes on Ukraine on Sept. 10, 2025.  (Photo by Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images)

POLAND SHOOTS DOWN DRONES IN ITS AIRSPACE DURING RUSSIAN ATTACK ON NEIGHBORING UKRAINE

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a statement on Wednesday that “A full assessment of the incident is ongoing.”

“What is clear is that the violation last night is not an isolated incident,” he added in reference to similar situations in which Russian drones have increasingly crossed NATO borders in recent months. 

Tusk called the incident “a large-scale provocation” and said “the situation is serious, and no-one doubts that we must prepare for various scenarios.”

Rutte said NATO leaders held a meeting this morning after Poland enacted Article 4, which triggers urgent talks “whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence, or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”

Rutte confirmed that the overnight drone attack not only scrambled Polish warplanes, but also Dutch F-35s, Italian Airborne Warning and Control Systems, NATO Multi Role Tanker Transport system for air-to-air refueling, and German Patriots were “activated” and “successfully ensured the defense of NATO territory.”

A member of the Polish army inspects a damaged house, after Russian drones violated Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine and some were shot down by Poland, in Wyryki, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, Sept. 10, 2025.  (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

“This is the first time NATO planes have engaged potential threats in Allied airspace,” spokesperson for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, U.S. Army Col. Martin L. O’Donnell, said Wednesday. “NATO, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, and all of Allied Command Operations is committed to defending every kilometre of NATO territory, including our airspace.”