Portugal – European Sanctions Enforcement

January 19, 2026January 19, 2026 by Mark Handley

Portugal – prosecution brought against football club for receiving payment from sanctioned Russian club

It is being reported (and here behind a paywall) that Portuguese football club Casa Pia, and the clb’s executive manager, are being prosecuted by Portugal’s Public Prosecutor’s Office for an alleged breach of the EU’s sanctions.

The allegation is that the club received €1.5 million from the Russian football club FC Akhmat in payment for a player transfer.

FC Akhmat is said to be owned by Ramzan Kadyrov, who is a designated person under the EU’s sanctions.

Reports also state that the indictment includes accusations of forgery and money laundering as part of deceiving the club’s bank as to the origin of the funds.

October 9, 2025 by Mark Handley

Portugal – investigation into possible sanctions breaches by professional football team

It is being reported that the Portuguese authorities have commenced an investigation into possible sanctions breaches by the football team Benfica.

The allegations relate to player transfers and payments between Benfica and the Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow, which is owned by the sanctioned Russian state-owned railway company RDZ.

The manager of Benfica, Rui Costa, is due to be questioned as part of the investigation.

August 25, 2025August 25, 2025 by Mark Handley

Lithuania – Customs raids and arrests for sanctioned exports in conjunction with raids in Portugal and Bulgaria

On Saturday Lithuania’s Customs issued a press release announcing raids on a company based in Kaunas, and associated residential premises, with 11 people (employees, company managers, as well as drivers) detained and a dozen tons of equipment (valued at around €2 million) seized.

It is alleged the company was exporting to Russia via Bulgaria and Turkey based on a fictitious customer in Portugal. Contemporaneous raids were conducted in Bulgaria to seize a shipment that had already left Lithuania, and in Portugal at the premises of the Portuguese customer.

The operation was coordinated by Eurojust and Europol and with assistance from the Portuguese authorities.

The exports are described as “water treatment equipment (dosing stations, large industrial water filters (osmosis), etc.) and their components (various pumps, filters, membranes)”. The press release adds that the products were specifically designed for the Russian customer.

June 18, 2025 by Mark Handley

Portugal – court judgments reveal ongoing Russian sanctions investigations for breaches of bank deposit cap

In a first for this blog, we can report on sanctions enforcement activity in Portugal.

Three judgments from the Lisbon Court of Appeal reveal ongoing investigations into alleged breaches of the EU’s regulation 833/2014.

The judgments are each the dismissal of appeals by anonymised persons who have had bank accounts frozen pending the outcome of the the criminal investigations in question. In each case the investigation appears to be focussed on alleged breaches of regulation 5b of 833/2014 and the €100,000 deposit cap first introduced in February 2022.

The judgments are from:

a) 24 May 2023: in this case it is alleged that a Russian national (named only as YS) transferred over €1.8m for the purchase of real estate in Portugal in February and June 2022. The judgment mentions that YS had been a senior manager within Gazprombank.

b) 6 February 2025: in this case it is alleged that two Russian nationals (named only as AA and BB) transferred $6m from accounts in Russia and Austria in February and October 2022, and another €4.7m in February and March 2022 There is also an allegation that the transfers related to Tatyana Golikova, who is a designated person under the EU’s sanctions.

c) 11 March 2025: in this case it is alleged that two Russian nationals residing in Russia (named only as AA and BB) transferred several hundred thousand euros to bank accounts in Portugal.