Statement from Group DF regarding the extension of sanctions against the Group`s shareholder

The new decision of the NSDC (National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine) has not introduced any new sanctions, but merely extended existing ones. The sanctions imposed three years ago, and extended now, were introduced unfairly, without any due process or legal basis and without any evidence. We are confident that we will be proved right, and are challenging the sanctions in court. The administrative case No. 9901/332/21 is currently under consideration by Ukraine’s Supreme Court.

Unfortunately, we are faced with the fact that the trial lasts three years. The court sessions were closed to the public for a long period and then subjected to numerous delays and remain postponed to this day. 

In the court hearings to date, no facts or evidence of any violation of the law by the Group’s shareholder or by our businesses have been presented. 

We will therefore also be taking legal action in the appropriate international courts. We intend to restore justice and prove the illegality and absurdity of imposing sanctions against the shareholder. We consider it unacceptable for the authorities to try to intimidate and coerce large Ukrainian businesses, especially during the war. Today this pressure, unfortunately, takes a variety of forms, and sanctions is one of them. This only serves to cause direct harm to business, the economy and to Ukrainians.