A top EU court throwing out press clippings and other evidence used against two of Russia’s most prominent oligarchs has opened the way for hundreds of Kremlin-linked individuals to challenge the European sanctions regime.

The General Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of tycoons Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman, saying the EU failed to prove how they were connected to Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, even as the bloc established some links to the Kremlin. The two are still subject to a bloc-wide travel ban and asset freeze pending the outcome of separate legal action.

EU officials and legal experts said the court’s surprise decision marked an unsettling precedent, as it questions a principle used in many other sanctions that proximity to Russian President Vladimir Putin implies complicity with the invasion.