The European Union Has Lifted Sanctions Against A Billionaire Who Promised To Betray Lukashenko
- 8.10.2026, 16:25
Gutseriev wanted to sell the Belarusian dictator's secrets to the FBI.
The European Union has removed Russian billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev and Belarusian businessman Viktor Shevtsov from the EU sanctions list, on which they had been placed for supporting Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, according to "Radio Svaboda". The reason was the businessmen’s victories in court, following which Brussels found no legal grounds to maintain the restrictions.
Initially, Gutseriev was unable to challenge the sanctions. In September 2023, the General Court of the EU dismissed his lawsuit, and in May 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union denied his appeal. However, in October 2025, the court annulled the 2024 decisions, and on May 13, 2026, it annulled the February 2025 decision to extend the sanctions. The court concluded that the EU Council had not provided sufficient evidence that Gutseriev continued to support Lukashenko or to benefit from ties to his regime.
Gutseriev was first subject to EU sanctions on June 21, 2021. European authorities referred to him as a friend of Lukashenko. Among the grounds for the restrictions were the businessman’s investments in the Nezhin Mining and Processing Plant, as well as his attendance at Lukashenko’s inauguration in September 2020.
It should be noted that the Czech publications Denik N and Respekt, citing classified documents from the Czech police and intelligence services, revealed that Russian billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev in 2022 attempted to sell secrets belonging to Lukashenko and Putin to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions against himself and his business.
The Czech intelligence services and a double agent from Georgia—who had secured a position at the National Center for Combating Organized Crime in Prague (NCOZ) and is currently under investigation—acted as intermediaries in the secret negotiations.
According to Czech media reports, the intelligence officer from Georgia (identified only by his initials—L. G.) helped Gutseriev meet with FBI representatives twice after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The oligarch offered the Americans information about the plans of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko and asked in return that Western sanctions against him be lifted. The deal ultimately fell through, and the sanctions against the billionaire were never lifted.