Nikita Mazepin Removed From EU Sanctions List

The road to a potential return to Formula 1 for Nikita Mazepin continues to clear.

The Russian driver, and his sponsor Uralkali, headed by his father Dmitry, was axed by the American team Haas at the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict.

But Mazepin, now 25, has struggled even to travel beyond Russian borders ever since, given that he was placed on the European Union sanctions list due to his father’s links to Vladimir Putin.

But now, while sanctions against Russian individuals were renewed by the Council of the European Union this week, Mazepin’s name was dropped from the list.

“In the context of the sanctions’ review, the Council decided not to renew the listings of two individuals and remove five deceased persons from the list,” the Council confirmed in a press release.

As well as Mazepin, the other name dropped from the list was Violetta Prigozhina, the mother of former Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in August last year.

The EU Council confirmed that those still on the sanctions list face travel restrictions, frozen assets, and a ban on making certain payments.