The EC Court is a bent pipe

Exclusive. The European Court of Justice (General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg) lifted the sanctions against Russian businessman Dmitry Pumpyansky and members of his family in several decisions, starting from June 2024, and the last one — on September 10, 2025.

Dmitry Pumpyansky is a Russian billionaire, known as one of the leading oligarchs in the metallurgical industry. He founded and headed the group of companies "Sinara" (Sinara Group), which is engaged in investments, engineering and financial services, and was also the owner and chairman of the board of directors of PJSC "Trubnaya metallurgicheskaya kompaniya" (TMK), the world's largest producer of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry. TMK supplies products for Gazprom and other large Russian companies.

According to Forbes estimates for August 2022, Pumpyansky's fortune was about 2 billion US dollars, and according to Russian Forbes - up to 3,3 billion dollars. He began his career in the 1990s as a metals trader in the Urals region, then acquired the Synarsky Pipe Plant and in 2002, together with other businessmen (including Sergey Popov and Andrey Melnychenko), bought out TMK, becoming its sole owner in 2006. He is married, has a son, Alexander, and, according to some sources, the family lives in Yekaterinburg, although there is information about their long-standing residence in Geneva.

EU sanctions against Pumpyansky were introduced in March 2022 in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He was listed as a leading Russian businessman whose companies (TMK and Synara) allegedly provide significant income to the Russian government, which is responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine. In addition, on February 24, 2022, Pumpyansky participated in a meeting with Vladimir Putin and other 36 businessmen to discuss the consequences of Western sanctions, which was seen as a connection with the Kremlin. Sanctions also affected his wife Halyna and son Alexander, who held positions in related companies.

PJSC "Trubnaya Metallurgicheskaya Kompaniya" (TMK) is the largest in Russia and one of the leading producers of steel pipes in the world, mainly for the oil and gas industry. Founded in 2001, the headquarters is located in Moscow. TMK specializes in the production of pipes for various purposes, including oil and gas pipelines, casing, pump-compressor and drilling pipes, as well as products for machine building and construction.

The main clients are large companies such as Gazprom, Rosneft and international oil and gas corporations. TMK unites more than 20 enterprises in Russia, the USA, Canada, Romania, Oman and other countries. The main Russian assets are the Volzhsky, Synarsky, Seversky and Taganrog metallurgical plants. In the USA, there is a division of TMK IPSCO. Products include seamless and welded pipes, as well as premium connections for difficult operating conditions (for example, in the Arctic or on the shelf). According to 2022, TMK supplied products to more than 80 countries. In 2021, the sales volume of pipes amounted to about 4,5 million tons. In 2022, the company's revenue amounted to about 563 billion rubles (approximately $7,5 billion at the exchange rate of that time), net profit — about 22 billion rubles. TMK invests in research and development, creating high-strength and corrosion-resistant pipes. The company has its own scientific and technical center in Skolkovo.

Dmitry Pumpyansky was the main shareholder until 2022. After the introduction of sanctions, he left the shareholders and the board of directors. Currently, the controlling stake belongs to management and institutional investors, but the exact ownership structure is not publicly disclosed.

TMK plays a key role in Russian metallurgy and energy, providing pipes for large infrastructure projects, such as the Nord Stream and Power of Siberia gas pipelines. The company also actively works on international markets, although Western sanctions after 2022 have limited exports to a number of countries. In 2022, TMK and its subsidiaries fell under the sanctions of the USA, the EU and other countries, which limited access to Western technologies and markets. In response, TMK refocused on the domestic market and the countries of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. In 2023-2024, the company sold some foreign assets, including part of the American facilities.

The main reasons for the lifting of sanctions

The court found that the Council of the EU did not provide convincing evidence that Pumpyansky personally participated in actions to undermine the territorial integrity of Ukraine or had direct connections with the Russian government after the beginning of the conflict. Participation in the meeting with Putin was not considered a sufficient reason.

On March 9, 2022 (two weeks after the start of the invasion), Pumpyansky resigned from the positions of president and member of the board of directors of Synara, as well as from the board of directors of TMK, ceasing to be a beneficiary. This made the grounds for sanctions (communication through business) invalid.

The court considered the criteria for inclusion in the sanctions to be illegal, as they violated Pumpyansky's fundamental rights (including the presumption of innocence) and EU rules. Sanction extensions from September 2022 to September 2023 (and subsequent ones) were annulled, and the EU Council was ordered to pay court costs. The judges noted that repeated extensions of sanctions based on the same unfounded arguments were "quasi-automatic" and ignored previous court decisions.

Despite this, Pumpyansky remains under sanctions in the USA, Great Britain and other countries. The court's decision does not affect new EU sanctions packages that may be adopted in the future.

Apparently, someone urgently needed a pipe manufacturer...

Mikhail Kuznets