{"id":210899,"date":"2025-09-25T21:26:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T17:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forbes.ge\/?p=210899"},"modified":"2025-09-25T21:26:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T17:26:24","slug":"new-zealand-delists-igor-makarov-aligning-with-u-k-and-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.forbes.ge\/en\/new-zealand-delists-igor-makarov-aligning-with-u-k-and-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand Delists Igor Makarov, Aligning With U.K. and Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Zealand has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.govt.nz\/regulation\/public\/2025\/0195\/latest\/LMS1498012.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">removed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Cypriot businessman Igor Makarov from its list of individuals designated under the Russia Sanctions Regulations, effective September 12, 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Makarov, president of ARETI International Group and former founder of the energy conglomerate ITERA, was first placed under sanctions by New Zealand in <\/span><b>2022<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, shortly after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Like other jurisdictions, New Zealand initially aligned its sanctions with those of international partners, targeting individuals considered to have close ties to Russia\u2019s political elite.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His removal from New Zealand\u2019s sanctions list comes after similar reviews \u2013 the United Kingdom lifted sanctions against him in <\/span><b>March 2024<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, followed by Australia in <\/span><b>May 2025,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with both governments concluding there was no legal basis to maintain restrictions. Notably, neither the United States nor the European Union has ever imposed sanctions on Makarov.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canada now remains the only Western country with sanctions in place against the businessman, pointing to alleged ties to senior Russian officials \u2013 allegations Makarov consistently denies. In August 2024, the Federal Court of Canada upheld the Minister\u2019s decision to keep Makarov on its sanctions list, ruling that the Minister is entitled to broad discretion in assessing available evidence and is not bound by strict evidentiary rules.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apart from his business profile, Makarov has also been a visible figure in international sport. A former professional cyclist, he has served on the Management Committee of the <\/span><b>Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> since <\/span><b>2011<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He was also the founder and sponsor of <\/span><b>Team Katusha<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a Swiss-based professional WorldTour cycling team that competed at the highest level of the sport until <\/span><b>2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Zealand has removed Cypriot businessman Igor Makarov from its list of individuals designated under the Russia Sanctions Regulations, effective September 12, 2025.\u00a0 Makarov, president of ARETI International Group and former founder of the energy conglomerate ITERA, was first placed under sanctions by New Zealand in 2022, shortly after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":675,"featured_media":210900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1749],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-en","has-thumb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Zealand Delists Igor Makarov, Aligning With U.K. and Australia &#8226; Forbes Georgia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.forbes.ge\/en\/new-zealand-delists-igor-makarov-aligning-with-u-k-and-australia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Zealand Delists Igor Makarov, Aligning With U.K. and Australia &#8226; Forbes Georgia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Zealand has removed Cypriot businessman Igor Makarov from its list of individuals designated under the Russia Sanctions Regulations, effective September 12, 2025.\u00a0 Makarov, president of ARETI International Group and former founder of the energy conglomerate ITERA, was first placed under sanctions by New Zealand in 2022, shortly after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 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