Media: EU plans to lift sanctions on billionaire Alisher Usmanov

Media: EU intends to lift sanctions on billionaire Alisher Usmanov

On Monday, ambassadors of the European Union countries agreed to lift sanctions imposed over the situation in Ukraine against entrepreneurs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, provided that no government of the community raises objections in the coming hours.

As reported by Reuters, the agreement among the ambassadors of the 27 EU countries was reached as part of a package deal to extend sanctions against thousands of other Russian individuals and entities for 3 years, which significantly exceeds the usual extension periods of 6 or 12 months.

To the surprise and indignation of a number of EU states, this month France joined Slovakia in pushing for the removal of the Russian-Uzbek billionaire Usmanov from the sanctions list. Following this, Luxembourg demanded the exclusion of Fridman, diplomats said.

France urged the European Union to lift sanctions on Usmanov after coming under pressure from Azerbaijan, which detained at least 2 French citizens, 3 European diplomats told Reuters last week. On Friday, a senior Azerbaijani diplomat rejected these claims.

France has not publicly confirmed that it sought the lifting of EU sanctions against Usmanov, which include a travel ban to the bloc and an asset freeze. The European Union imposed sanctions on both businessmen in 2022. In justifying the restrictions against Usmanov, the EU pointed to his "particularly close ties" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Fridman is demanding 16 billion dollars from Luxembourg in proceedings referred to arbitration. According to EU diplomats, Luxembourg stated that its position on maintaining sanctions against Fridman could weaken if Usmanov were removed from the lists alone.