EU court annuls sanctions against mother of Putin ally

A top European Union court on Wednesday granted a challenge to annul sanctions against the mother of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group fighting in Ukraine. The EU blacklisted Violetta Prigozhina saying business links with her son made her complicit in Russia's aggression against its neighbour, a former Soviet republic that now wants to integrate with the West.

"The General Court annuls the restrictive measures applied to Ms Violetta Prigozhina, mother of Mr Yevgeniy Prigozhin, in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine," the bloc's second highest court said.