Overview
- Diplomats in Brussels have launched a formal procedure to delist Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the EU sanctions list to prevent a single member‑state veto from blocking the wider package.
- The delisting is presented as a trade‑off that would allow the EU to renew sanctions on roughly 3,000 people and entities and to extend those measures for 36 months rather than a shorter renewal.
- The push to remove Usmanov began with Slovakia, France unexpectedly backed that request, and Luxembourg then argued that Fridman must also be delisted; reporting links France’s stance to efforts to secure the release of detained French citizens in Azerbaijan.
- EU documents have previously described both men as closely tied to President Vladimir Putin, and officials warn that removing their names could invite legal challenges from other sanctioned Russians and provoke political backlash across member states.
- The episode highlights how the EU’s unanimity rule lets a few capitals extract bilateral concessions, a dynamic that could weaken collective leverage over Russia and create new precedents for changing the sanctions list.