EU Renews Russia Sanctions, Delists Usmanov and Fridman in Compromise

European Union envoys agreed to remove two prominent billionaires, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, from the bloc's Russian sanctions list as part of a compromise that extends restrictions on roughly 3,000 other listed individuals and entities, EU diplomats said.

The rollover was approved for three years rather than the customary six months, a longer horizon that formed part of the bargain struck among member states. The renewal deadline had been set for midnight on September 22, after an earlier extension from an original expiry of September 15.

The arrangement followed an unusually difficult negotiation. France prompted surprise among other EU members earlier in the month when it sought Usmanov's removal, citing national security concerns. Luxembourg then pressed for the same treatment for Fridman, who has filed a $16 billion claim against the country.

Sanctions decisions require unanimity, and Latvia emerged as the final holdout. Riga ultimately abstained, which cleared the way for the deal to pass; the decision was formally adopted through a written procedure later in the day. Latvia's Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said Riga would pursue its own national sanctions while abstaining from the EU procedure, and noted that France had agreed to begin talks with Latvia on joining a French nuclear deterrence initiative.

Both men were sanctioned by the EU in 2022 after Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, measures that include transaction and travel bans and the freezing of assets held in the bloc. Latvia had previously taken legal action to keep EU sanctions in place on Fridman and his Russian-Latvian business partner Petr Aven, who was stripped of the country's highest civilian honour in 2022 for failing to condemn the invasion.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha criticised the de-listings in a post on X, calling the move shameful and unjustifiable and urging EU countries to impose their own national restrictions on the two men.

The episode has unsettled European leaders who had hoped to project greater unity against Russia following a change of government in Hungary. Former Hungarian leader Viktor Orban had frequently obstructed sanctions and support for Ukraine. Diplomats said high-level meetings in Europe and on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week were needed to finalise the agreement.

France also faced pressure from Azerbaijan, where at least two French nationals are detained, according to three European diplomats. They said Paris had indicated privately that Baku was using Usmanov to pressure it over the case, an assertion Azerbaijan rejected. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has previously lobbied for Usmanov's delisting, though the reasons remain unclear.