The EU extends its Russia sanctions list for just one week, keeping Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov designated until ambassadors meet again
European Union ambassadors agreed to extend one of the bloc’s sanctions regimes against Russia for just one week, according to EUobserver and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Rikard Jozwiak, who cited sources.
The sanctions list covers about 3,000 individuals and entities. All 27 EU member states must unanimously approve its renewal every six months.
The list was due to expire overnight between September 14 and 15, but EU countries could not agree on another six-month extension because of a dispute over sanctions against Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov. Slovakia initially demanded that the bloc lift its sanctions against him, and France later followed suit. The other 25 member states objected.
At a meeting in Brussels, EU ambassadors ultimately decided to extend the list for one more week, keeping Usmanov on it until the ambassadors’ September 22 meeting. EUobserver called the move unprecedented since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “[W]e agree to disagree, for one week,” an EU diplomat told the publication.
A French diplomatic source told EUobserver that Paris was seeking to lift the sanctions on Usmanov because “We [France] have a specific national security issue and wish to respond positively to our international partners, who are approaching us regarding Mr. Usmanov.”
The publication suggested that those partners were Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan, Usmanov’s country of birth. All three had lobbied for his removal from the sanctions list in March.
According to a source quoted by the Financial Times, Paris had intervened on Usmanov’s behalf as part of a prisoner-release deal with Azerbaijan. EUobserver said the deal may involve bringing French businessman Martin Ryan home. In March, a court in Baku sentenced Ryan to 10 years in prison on charges of gathering information about the military during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
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