Puy du Fou’s plans to move into Russia with a new history theme park could be seriously in jeopardy after key partner – Russian billionaire Konstantin Malofeyev – was placed on a European Union sanctions list last week.

Malofeyev and Puy Du Fou came to an agreement last month to build the country’s first history-themed entertainment park in the Moscow region, on 300 hectares of land near a hotel and entertainment complex that Malofeyev owns in the Moscow region. The park is planned to open in 2017.

The sanctions were placed on Malofeyev after the EU said he was “closely linked to Ukrainian separatists in Eastern Ukraine and Crimea" and that he is "acting in support of the destabilisation of Eastern Ukraine."

Puy du Fou president Nicolas de Villiers criticised the EU’s decision, stating in an interview with Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty that the ruling was “strange” and that political decisions should not influence private business.

The historical theme park operator says it will press ahead with the US$500m (€371m, £292m) plans, despite the sanctions against Malofeyev and the widersanctions against Russia in relation to the situation in Ukraine. The sanctions against Malofeyev specifically relate to trade restrictions, asset freezes and restrictions on admission to the west.