EU agrees to lift sanctions on Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman

EU member states’ permanent representatives have agreed to remove two Russian billionaires — USM Holdings founder Alisher Usmanov and Alfa Group co-founder Mikhail Fridman — from the sanctions list, according to Reuters and Euronews.

The Russia sanctions list includes about 3,000 individuals and entities. It had previously been renewed every six months with the consent of all 27 EU members. EU representatives have now agreed to extend the sanctions regime for three years. Under the deal, the businessmen would be removed from the sanctions list in exchange for extending it for three years.

The sanctions list was due to expire overnight on September 15. On September 14, EU representatives managed to extend it by just one week. At the time, reports said restrictions on Usmanov had caused disagreements among the bloc’s members. Slovakia, followed by France, demanded that the sanctions against him be lifted. The other 25 members disagreed. Luxembourg then also asked for Fridman to be removed from the sanctions list.

France said its request was based on national security considerations. According to EUobserver and the Financial Times, Paris pushed for Usmanov’s removal from the sanctions list as part of a prisoner-release agreement with Azerbaijan. The deal may involve the return of French businessman Martin Ryan to France. In March, a court in Baku sentenced him to 10 years in prison on charges of gathering information about the military during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. In addition to Azerbaijan, Turkey and Uzbekistan, where Usmanov was born, had also lobbied for his removal from the sanctions list.

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Luxembourg’s support for Fridman, meanwhile, has been linked to the $16 billion lawsuit he filed against the country’s authorities in 2024 over the freezing of his assets. The businessman later filed similar lawsuits against the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

As of September 22, Latvia was the only EU member still opposed to lifting sanctions on the Russian businessmen. “The situation is complicated. […] Extending the sanctions for 36 months would be the right move. However, the price should not simply be removing two people from the sanctions list,” Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said.

According to Euronews, Latvia ultimately lifted its veto and “opted for a constructive abstention,” allowing the agreement to be reached. It will take effect once EU representatives confirm the previously agreed-upon decision in writing. Riga has nevertheless imposed national sanctions on Fridman and Usmanov.

The European Union sanctioned Usmanov and Fridman in 2022, shortly after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. EU authorities concluded that both billionaires belonged to Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. As a result of the sanctions, Fridman resigned from the board of the investment group LetterOne and sold his stakes in Alfa Bank and Alfa Insurance.

Usmanov and Fridman sought to challenge the restrictions and enlisted lobbyists in the West to push for the sanctions to be lifted. Hungary, for example, demanded that the businessmen be removed from the EU sanctions list as early as 2025. In March 2026, Hungary and Slovakia also tried to block the renewal of EU sanctions on Russia, demanding that Usmanov and Fridman be removed from the sanctions lists.

In 2023, Leonid Volkov resigned as chairman of the board of ACF International (the Anti-Corruption Foundation) because he had signed a letter in support of Mikhail Fridman.