Alisher Usmanov Wins Case in Germany vs Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - Lawyer Steinhöfel

HAMBURG, Germany, Jan. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- On January 23, 2026, the Hamburg Regional Court granted Alisher Usmanov's claim against the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), banning it from disseminating a series of libelous statements about him. Among others, a court of European jurisdiction has, for the first time, prohibited the dissemination of Alexey Navalny's false statements addressed to Mr. Usmanov.

In April 2023, one of Germany's leading and most respected nationwide newspapers, FAZ, published an article titled 'On Behalf of the Kremlin' that contained numerous defamatory statements about Alisher Usmanov. As the newspaper refused to voluntarily sign a cease-and-desist statement, Mr. Usmanov filed a lawsuit with the Hamburg Regional Court. The court accepted Mr. Usmanov's arguments and granted the claim in full.

In particular, the court banned FAZ's statement that Mr. Usmanov used his capital 'time and again presumably on behalf of the Kremlin,' that he informally represented Russian authorities in Uzbekistan, and interfered with the editorial policy of Kommersant newspaper after acquiring it in 2006.

In addition, a court of European jurisdiction has, for the first time, prohibited the dissemination of Alexey Navalny's assertions previously deemed defamatory by a Russian court to the effect that Alisher Usmanov had allegedly 'donated' properties to the entities associated with Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev as "a return favour for Medvedev covering up Usmanov's deals to the detriment of the interests of Gazprom," and that in 2002 Usmanov had acquired shares in Gazprom Investholding through his controlled company, thus effectively 'selling state-owned assets to himself'.

Previously, Mr. Navalny's assertions and accusations of Alisher Usmanov's interference in the editorial policy of the newspaper Kommersant were used to justify the EU sanctions against Mr. Usmanov and as grounds for initiating probes into him in Germany. Mr. Usmanov's representatives have refuted them many times. 

The court has now ruled that FAZ's statements violate Mr. Usmanov's personal rights and prohibited them. Violation of the prohibition may be punished with a fine of up to €250,000 for each individual offence. If such a fine is not enforceable, it may be replaced with an administrative detention of up to six months per offence, with a maximum of two years in total.

The decision of the Hamburg Regional Court continues the streak of court rulings made in favor of Alisher Usmanov, challenging the claims that had been used to justify sanctions against him. In January 2024, a ruling was issued against the American magazine Forbes, whose article was used by the EU Council as a key element of rationale for the EU sanctions against Alisher Usmanov.

Besides, in January 2026 the Hamburg Regional Court prohibited the allegations by a Swiss publication Watson that Alisher Usmanov owned property at Lake Tegernsee in Germany and the Dilbar yacht. Earlier, the court had made similar decisions against Tagesspiegel (Germany), Exxpress (Austria), Luxembourg Times (Luxembourg), Blick (Switzerland), etc.

In December 2025, Germany terminated the investigation against Alisher Usmanov into suspected violation of the German Foreign Trade and Payments Act in relation to the current EU sanctions against him without any charges and retaining presumption of his innocence. A year earlier, Germany dismissed a money laundering investigation against Mr. Usmanov.

Joachim Steinhöfel, a media law attorney representing Alisher Usmanov, noted: "This ruling confirms that the major allegations in the FAZ article were nothing more than a mix of wrong factual statements and discredited narratives from Alexey Navalny. The newspaper's failure to provide evidence was remarkable, mirroring the collapse of politically motivated investigations against Alisher Usmanov in Germany. This is not the first time that false factual claims have been prohibited by the courts, which repeat essential parts of the reasoning behind the sanctions against Mr. Usmanov. This allows for the legally substantiated assessment that the EU's sanctions reasoning is nothing more than an accumulation of defamatory, groundless and thus illegal allegations."

Background:

In 2023–2026, lawyers for Alisher Usmanov and his relatives obtained 18 court rulings, 105 cease-and-desist declarations from media resources worldwide, secured the removal of hundreds of incorrect articles and links, and ensured the correction of more than 2,000 publications. 

Mr. Usmanov has won a lawsuit against the American magazine Forbes, the German newspaper Tagesspiegel, the Austrian newspaper Kurier, major German television and radio broadcasters RTL and ARD/Westdeutscher Rundfunk, etc. 

In April 2025, the German newspaper Münchner Merkur immediately removed 15 articles about Alisher Usmanov. Some of those articles had been used to trigger probes into Mr. Usmanov in Germany, and were mentioned in the EU Council's sanctions dossier against Mr. Usmanov. Similarly, the German regional newspaper Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (NOZ) deleted or revised 36 of its incorrect articles, and the major Irish publication EU Reporter simultaneously removed 174 links in 58 languages from its website.

In February 2025, Germany's leading news agency dpa notified its national and international media partners of the retraction of its article claiming that Mr. Usmanov's sister was the owner of the Dilbar yacht. The move came after the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) had publicly disavowed a statement to this effect. As a result, the content was removed from the websites of numerous media, including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Zeit, Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, etc. 

In March 2025, Tagesschau, Germany's longest-running and most-watched television news program, was also forced to remove similar content from its website.