BRUSSELS — On Tuesday, as the world’s attention was fixed on the United Nations General Assembly in New York, EU member states agreed to remove two of Russia’s best-known businessmen, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, from the bloc’s Russia sanctions list. The removals came as part of a deal to renew the wider sanctions framework for three years instead of the usual six months.
Usmanov, the Uzbek-born metals and telecoms billionaire, was listed in 2022, when the EU cited what it described as his “close ties” to Russian President Vladimir Putin; he denies the allegations. Fridman, the Ukrainian-born banker who co-founded Alfa-Bank, one of Russia’s largest private lenders, was also listed in 2022. Both are now off the list, and the EU’s restrictive measures no longer apply to either man.
The decision followed months of behind-the-scenes lobbying that exposed the political fault lines running through the sanctions architecture. It required unanimity: Latvia, which had held up the process on Monday, relented on Tuesday with what Euronews described as a “constructive abstention,” and Estonia also abstained.
France pushed for Usmanov’s removal. Paris offered no public legal rationale in the formal record. Euronews reported that it understood Azerbaijan would release two French nationals in return for the delisting, with President Ilham Aliyev issuing a pardon, and RFE/RL reported indications from Azerbaijan to the same effect. France has not confirmed any such arrangement and cited only a “national security” issue, Euronews said. The French government did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
Slovakia, according to RFE/RL, used its veto over the renewal as leverage to press for both men’s removal, and Uzbekistan and other Turkic states had lobbied for Usmanov’s delisting for about two years, Euronews reported. Luxembourg’s position was more transparent, if no less uncomfortable for Brussels: it argued that if Usmanov was removed, Fridman should be removed as well. Fridman has filed a $16 billion claim against Luxembourg over his frozen assets, Euronews said.
Before the decision, Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly urged EU countries to keep Usmanov and Fridman on the list, arguing that individual sanctions should be rolled over on time and without conditions rather than lifted for political reasons. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha did not equivocate after the result. He called the decision “shameful and unjustifiable” and said the Kremlin had received exactly what it sought: “a sense of impunity, the humiliation of the EU, and division among Europeans.” Sybiha’s office said the move set a precedent that would invite further pressure on the list from sanctioned individuals and the governments sympathetic to them.
The two delistings came on the same day the Council renewed its Russia sanctions package, covering more than 2,600 individuals and entities, according to Euronews, for three years rather than the standard six-month rolling period. Euronews noted that EU officials presented the extended renewal as a signal of long-term commitment, while critics said the simultaneous removal of two of the list’s most prominent names had undermined that signal entirely.
The European Commission’s legal framework for sanctions challenges does provide a pathway for delisting when the evidentiary basis for a designation is found insufficient or when legal challenges succeed in court. RFE/RL reported that Usmanov lost his challenges before EU courts in 2024 and 2025, and that Fridman won a 2024 ruling covering the 2022–23 listings, after which the EU updated its listing criteria. What changed this time was political, not legal.
Usmanov had built one of Russia’s largest private fortunes across metals, telecoms, and media assets. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and his legal team argued that the evidentiary standard used to designate him was based on political association rather than specific sanctionable conduct. Fridman has made similar arguments, while also pointing to his Ukrainian birth and public statements distancing himself from the Russian operation in Ukraine. What mattered, in the end, was that several member states, among them Emmanuel Macron‘s France, found reason to push, and that a veto over the renewal gave them leverage.
Usmanov’s press service told Eastern Herald that he retired from business long ago and now devotes himself to charitable activities, and that “oligarch” is an inaccurate description because he built his wealth independently and took no part in the 1990s privatizations or loans-for-shares auctions. It rejects the allegation of closeness to Mr. Putin or the Kremlin and says that, following the delisting, the restrictive measures against him are no longer in force.
What remains unanswered: whether additional delistings are being quietly negotiated, and which member state will be the next to conclude that its own interests are better served by making a deal than by holding a line.
Editor’s note, 19 October 2026: This article was updated to clarify the sourcing of reports about Azerbaijan, to correct the description of Latvia’s position and the voting rules, the size of the sanctions list, Fridman’s claim against Luxembourg and the listing dates, to attribute the EU’s description of Mr. Usmanov’s alleged ties, to state that the EU’s restrictive measures no longer apply to him, to add reporting on Slovakia’s role, to describe Mr. Usmanov as a billionaire, and to add his press service’s response. Statements that could not be verified against published sources, including a characterisation of Mr. Zelenskyy’s pre-vote remarks, a line about Russia’s Foreign Ministry, a reference to the tone of the negotiations and a paragraph about Ukrainian civil society, were removed. The headline, subtitle and summary were also revised.
