The European Union narrowly averted a major diplomatic crisis on Tuesday, September 22, by agreeing to renew its sweeping sanctions against Russia, according to official reports. To secure the unanimous agreement among the 27 member states before a midnight deadline, the bloc bowed to intense pressure from France and Luxembourg, agreeing to remove two Russian oligarchs, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, from its target list, as reported by France 24.
High-Stakes Negotiations and the Midnight Deadline
The 27 member states faced an expiration date for measures targeting about 2,600 individuals and entities accused of supporting the Russian war effort in Ukraine. Without a deal, the entire sanctions regime—including frozen assets—would have lapsed. Following two weeks of tense negotiations, European representatives finalized a compromise that not only dropped Usmanov and Fridman but also extended the remaining sanctions package for an exceptional three-year duration, replacing the previous six-month or annual renewal cycles.
The breakthrough came only after Latvia, which had maintained a fierce veto up to the final hours due to upcoming legislative elections, agreed to abstain. Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs defended the move on the social media platform X, explaining that the outcome “was not a choice between a good and a bad solution, but between a bad and a bien pire”—referring to the total expiration of the sanctions framework.
French Push on Usmanov Linked to Prisoner Release
France sparked significant surprise within Brussels on September 14 by initiating the push to lift sanctions against Alisher Usmanov, a 73-year-old businessman with ties to Vladimir Putin. According to reporting by the Financial Times, Paris pursued the removal under the banner of national security, leveraging the diplomatic standoff to secure the release of French citizens imprisoned in Azerbaijan. While the French government did not formally confirm the trade-off, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev granted a presidential pardon to detained French businessman Martin Ryan on Wednesday, exactly one day after the EU dropped sanctions against Usmanov. Ryan had been serving a ten-year sentence on contested espionage charges.
Usmanov’s removal aligns with broader international lobbying efforts. Reports from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty previously noted that Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan had also pressed for his exoneration through diplomatic channels. Beyond his extensive holdings in metallurgy, Usmanov was the second-largest investor of English football club Arsenal from 2007 to 2018 and has served as president of the Fédération Internationale d’Escrime since 2008, subject to intermittent pauses amid the ongoing conflict.
Luxembourg’s Concession to Fridman
Alongside the French initiative, Luxembourg faced parallel pressure regarding Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman. According to France 24, Luxembourg agreed to drop Fridman from the blacklist after the businessman initiated formal arbitration proceedings seeking 15 billion euros in damages from the Grand Duchy over the impact of the EU restrictions. The inclusion of Fridman and Usmanov in the exemptions proved deeply contentious among the bloc’s foreign ministers.
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze sharply criticized the compromises, stating in an official release that removing oligarchs for political reasons without strict legal foundation sets a dangerous precedent. European diplomatic sources in Brussels similarly warned that the concessions risked signaling that targeted individuals could evade penalties through high-stakes political leverage.
Sharp Condemnation From Kyiv
The decision drew immediate and severe backlash from Ukrainian leadership. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed profound indignation following a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, characterizing the concessions as dangerous appeasement. “À l’heure où la Russie mène des frappes brutales contre notre population… l’évocation d’une levée des sanctions visant certains oligarques russes semble suicidaire et contre-productive,” Zelensky stated.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha echoed those remarks on social media, labeling the move a “honteuse et totalement injustifiable” decision that hands Moscow a sense of impunity and fosters division among European allies. Sybiha urged individual EU member states to bypass the collective decision by implementing unilateral national sanctions against both Usmanov and Fridman.
What Comes Next for EU Sanctions Policy
Despite the diplomatic friction and concessions made to secure the package, the EU’s core asset-freeze and travel-ban measures remain in place for the vast majority of blacklisted entities over the next three years. European diplomatic bodies and national capitals now face scrutiny over whether individual member states will heed Kyiv’s call to enact domestic restrictions against the freed oligarchs.
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