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EU sanctions against Usmanov / Illustration REUTERSFrance is pushing other European Union countries to remove Uzbek-Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov from the sanctions list in exchange for the release of French citizens being held in Azerbaijan. Financial Times reports this, citing sources familiar with the negotiations.
Because of this demand, the renewal of sanctions against nearly 2600 individuals and legal entities, imposed in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was put at risk. The paper notes that on Monday France and Slovakia blocked the full year-long renewal of the sanctions regime, demanding that Usmanov be removed from the list.
To avoid a complete lapse of restrictions on all other Russians and companies, which would have expired on Wednesday, EU countries agreed on a temporary compromise—to extend the sanctions for just one week to buy time for further negotiations.
According to one European diplomat, the French démarche surprised EU colleagues—he called the situation "stunning."
FT writes that similar precedents have occurred before, but their initiators were governments most sympathetic to Moscow—Hungary's Viktor Orbán and Slovakia's Robert Fico. Now the demand comes from Paris, which was traditionally considered one of the toughest proponents of pressure on the Kremlin.
Officially, France declined to comment on either the deal itself or the fact that French citizens are being held in Azerbaijan. The foreign ministries of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan did not respond to journalists' requests either.
At the same time, a French diplomat told the paper that Paris's position is explained by a "particular concern for national security, and it wants to respond positively to international partners who reached out to us regarding Mr. Usmanov." He said France remains "one of the most committed to increasing pressure by all available means on Russia's war machine."
The final decision to delist Usmanov requires the agreement of all 27 EU member states. For now, the paper found, most countries are against such a step. Slovakia supports the idea, while Luxembourg is prepared to agree to lift sanctions on Usmanov only if Mikhail Fridman—one of Russia's wealthiest businessmen—is also removed from the list.
Diplomats from other EU countries privately complain that France has not explained why it insists on delisting Usmanov. One senior European diplomat put it bluntly:
"It would mean not just a reward for Russia, but a reward for the imprisonment of Europeans."
The EU justified sanctions against Usmanov by citing his "particularly close ties" to Putin and his belonging to a circle of businessmen "entrusted with managing financial flows, but whose positions depend on the will of the president." The oligarch himself denies the grounds for the sanctions and has already filed several lawsuits against them in courts in several European countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier urged EU partners to renew the sanctions in full and not make concessions to Usmanov or other oligarchs.
Sanctions against Russian oligarchs
Recall that as early as February 2025, investigative journalists from the "System" project found that Hungary sought the lifting of restrictions on eight Russians at once, among them the same Usmanov, his sister Gulbakhor Ismailova, Alfa-Bank co-founders Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven, and other businessmen close to the Kremlin.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Франція домагається зняття санкцій з російського олігарха: у ЄС обурені". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: UNIAN.
