MOSCOW, October 17 (RAPSI) – Russian oil giant Rosneft and billionaire Arkady Rotenberg filed suits with the EU Court of Justice based in Luxembourg over sanctions which had been imposed on them by the EU in late July, TASS reported on Friday.

Rosneft allegedly requested that the EU court annul the decision of the Council of the European Union to blacklist the company with a number of other major Russian businesses and financial institutions.

Rotenberg, a co-owner and board chairman of SMP Bank, was added to the EU sanctions list on July 30. He is challenging the visa ban and assets freeze.

Russian energy companies Rosneft, Gazprom Neft and Transneft, and five state banks came under EU sanctions on July 31. The latest sanctions update prohibits EU investors from lending funds to the sanctioned companies for more than 30 days.

On October 9, Rosneft announced a tender for legal services in connection with its anti-sanctions lawsuit worth £17.7 million (approximately $28.44 million) for five years, until 2019.