‘A triumph of money, filth, and hypocrisy’: EU decision to lift sanctions on Russian billionaires Fridman and Usmanov draws backlash

The European Union maintains a large sanctions list drawn up in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. It includes more than 3,000 people and companies. EU countries used to review the list every six months. On September 22, they agreed to extend it for a full three years, but with an important caveat: two billionaires with close ties to Russia, Mikhail Fridman and Alisher Usmanov, were removed from the list. Both men had long sought to have the sanctions lifted, both through European courts and other means. The final decision on their cases was political rather than judicial: Luxembourg intervened on behalf of Fridman, who has filed a lawsuit against the country for a huge sum, while France intervened for Usmanov and, in exchange, received a pardon for one of its citizens who had been convicted in Azerbaijan.

The lifting of European restrictions on Fridman and Usmanov has outraged figures in the Russian opposition in exile, Ukrainian officials, and some European politicians. Meduza has collected their reactions, presented here with minor cuts.

Russian opposition

Vladimir Kara-Murza

opposition politician

Yulia Navalnaya

leader of the Navalny-founded Anti-Corruption Foundation

It turns out that for Europe, it doesn’t matter whether you support the war or not, or whether you’re friends with Putin or opposed to him. In the end, it seems, what matters far more is how much money is in your bank accounts.

If you’re rich, have a couple of yachts and the right connections, apparently your sanctions can be lifted without much trouble. But if you fled Russia with little more than a few belongings because of political persecution or the draft, because you don’t support the war, it’s a different story: you might be denied a visa, refused a bank account, faced with a mountain of obstacles, and effectively pushed back into the arms of Putin’s system. And accused of supporting the war on top of it.

Thanks to the European Commission for yet another reminder that in big politics, money still speaks louder than principles, and the fates of ordinary people often end up somewhere near the bottom of the list of priorities.

Leonid Volkov

head of political projects at the Anti-Corruption Foundation

On Fridman, this is simply a mistake. He hasn’t done anything, hasn’t changed anything, hasn’t even spoken up. Lifting his sanctions “just because” is foolish. Four years ago I proposed, and I still believe, that clear and transparent mechanisms should have been created for exiting sanctions for entrepreneurs like Fridman, in exchange for concrete steps to weaken Putin’s regime: everything from condemning the war to providing substantial help to Ukraine. That was entirely achievable, but it was never done.

On Usmanov, this isn’t just a mistake, it’s a moral catastrophe, and a double one at that. First, Usmanov is no “rank-and-file oligarch.” He is one of the key people in the system. And it’s not just that his personal kept man is former president and current drunken bully Medvedev, but also which assets Usmanov bought up on behalf of and at the direction of the Kremlin for censorship and lawlessness: from MegaFon to Kommersant. Remember: “I don’t use the internet, I develop it”? Well, Usmanov is one of the people who developed it into its current state.

Second, Usmanov achieved the lifting of sanctions through hostage-taking. Azerbaijani dictator Aliyev helped out as a friend, detained French citizens, and France came running to sort things out. Great! The path out of sanctions has been shown: expect new hostages!

Maria Pevchikh

former head of the investigations department at the Anti-Corruption Foundation

What a colossal, planetary-scale disgrace this lifting of sanctions on Fridman and Usmanov is. As I said a couple of years ago, when I proposed trading yachts for political prisoners (which for some reason caused quite a scandal), if that isn’t done, the sanctions will simply be lifted for nothing. There will be no yachts and no political prisoners released. That is exactly what is happening now.

A triumph of money, filth, and hypocrisy. Some people, to get a measly work visa in Europe, have to bend over backwards proving they’re sufficiently anti-war, that none of their relatives, down to a seventh cousin, work for Putin’s regime, and produce stacks of convictions handed down in absentia in Russia. But these two assholes, pardon my language, haven’t said a single word against the war, and yet, please, come on in, cruise around on your yacht, live in your villas, no problem at all.

Vyacheslav Gimadi

head of the legal department at the Anti-Corruption Foundation

Putin’s oligarchs Usmanov (against whom I won at the European Court of Human Rights over Navalny’s investigation into Medvedev’s corruption) and the no less notorious Fridman are being removed from EU sanctions. How could this happen? These decisions are made unanimously, meaning any of the 27 countries can block them regardless of the “interests of the majority.” That’s what the Hungarians, Austrians, and Slovaks did, and now apparently France too, from what I’ve read. This vulnerability and pliability, I believe, diminish the institution itself, since it encourages terrorists to pressure individual countries, or maybe even offer them [financial] incentives, though I have no proof of that, and to blackmail them. Other people on the list will surely want to follow the same successful path.

Ivan Zhdanov

former director of the Anti-Corruption Foundation

If the European Union adopts this decision (or has already adopted it), it will collapse the entire system of personal sanctions. Today I sent an urgent letter through whatever channels I had, describing Usmanov’s personal role in the persecution of Navalny and of me (my first criminal case was over Usmanov) and his funding of the warmonger Medvedev. A terrible injustice and an abandonment of its own values [on the part of the European Union].

Ukrainian authorities

Volodymyr Zelensky

president of Ukraine

At a time when Russia is carrying out brutal attacks on our people – and even now, during the UN General Assembly, air raid alerts are ongoing in many regions because of drones and ballistic missiles – signals about lifting sanctions on individual Russian oligarchs are self-defeating and counterproductive. Wars end through resolve and strength, not concessions to the aggressor’s entourage. I’m grateful to [European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen] for her readiness to work on adding more Russian names to the EU sanctions lists. These are the kinds of steps that bring a just peace and guaranteed security closer.

Andrii Sybiha

foreign minister of Ukraine

The decision to remove Usmanov and Fridman from the sanctions list is shameful and entirely unjustified. Moscow is celebrating, having gotten exactly what it wanted: a sense of impunity, the humiliation of the European Union, and a split among Europeans. I call on all EU member states to declare now that they will impose their own national sanctions against these two individuals.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk

Ukrainian presidential commissioner for sanctions policy

We consider the EU’s decision not to extend sanctions against Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman very strange. […] Lifting restrictions on individual Russian businessmen should not become a new practice. That is why we will keep proposing new sanctions measures, in particular regarding Russian oligarchs connected to Russia’s military-industrial complex.

European politicians

Pina Picierno

vice president of the European Parliament

The decision to delist Usmanov and Fridman is disgraceful, cowardly and completely unacceptable. But let’s be crystal clear about where political responsibility lies: with the Member States in the Council, not the Commission.

Under the EU treaties (such rules that must change!), the High Representative proposes sanctions, working with the Commission on their economic aspects. But restrictive measures can only be adopted unanimously by the Council.

This unanimity rule makes the EU fragile and weak. We need a politically strong, sovereign Europe: one that is more than the sum of its Member States.

Andris Kulbergs

head of Latvia’s government

Latvia agreed to a compromise but is not changing its principled stance.

We opposed the removal of Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the European Union’s sanctions list until the very end. […] However, the government had to make a responsible decision. The choice was between changing the status of two individuals and risking the loss of the entire sanctions regime. That is why Latvia’s representative will abstain in the vote. […]

Latvia is not backing down. The Foreign Ministry has been instructed to prepare the legal grounds for imposing national sanctions against Usmanov and Fridman.

Mindaugas Sinkevičius

prime minister of Lithuania

Oligarchs are part of Russia’s war machine. The regime’s “wallets” must not be allowed to feel at ease in Europe while Ukrainians are being killed. I have instructed the relevant authorities to initiate the process for imposing national restrictive measures on Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman.

Margus Tsahkna

foreign minister of Estonia

The EU has just extended sanctions against nearly 3,000 individuals and entities linked to Russia’s aggression for another three years. This is a significant achievement, as it reduces the risk of future sanctions renewals becoming hostage to political bargaining.

However, to secure this agreement, sanctions against two prominent Russian businessmen, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, both known supporters of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, were lifted.

Estonia did not support this decision and abstained from the vote. We will now impose national sanctions on both individuals. Russia has not changed course. Neither should we.

Maciej Wąsik

member of the European Parliament from Poland

A compromising of the EU. Russian billionaires Usmanov and Fridman have been removed from the sanctions list. Only Latvia protested. Where was the Polish government? Where was the Polish protest?