A last-minute intervention from Vladimir Zelensky failed to stop the bloc delisting Alisher Usmanov<\/p>\n
The EU\u2019s 27 member states have agreed to remove Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from their sanctions blacklist, ending an impasse that threatened the very foundation of the bloc\u2019s anti-Russian penalty regime.
\nIn a deal brokered by Ireland, which holds the EU\u2019s rotating presidency, the member states agreed on Tuesday to remove Usmanov and Fridman from the blacklist. In exchange, the bloc extended sanctions on roughly 3,000 other Russian and Russian-linked entities and individuals by three years instead of the usual six months.
\nUsmanov, a Russian-Uzbek metals tycoon, was sanctioned by the EU in February 2022 over his alleged ties to the Kremlin. The EU came to this conclusion based on media reports which have been proven false by Usmanov\u2019s legal team over a series of lawsuits, and the billionaire used these legal victories to argue that he had been sanctioned based on false evidence.
\nHowever, it was France that pushed for his delisting, having negotiated a deal in which Azerbaijan would free two French citizens \u2013 one of whom was imprisoned for espionage \u2013 in exchange for the de-sanctioning of Usmanov. A Turkic nation like Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan was one of several countries that lobbied for Usmanov.
\nLuxembourg lobbied for the delisting of Fridman, as the duchy is currently being sued for $16 billion over its freezing of his assets in 2022. According to Reuters, Luxembourg argued that its case against Fridman would be weakened if Usmanov alone was let go.
\nIf a deal had not been struck by midnight on Tuesday, all of the EU\u2019s anti-Russian sanctions would have expired. An agreement was reportedly reached on Monday afternoon, but Latvia intervened to prevent it taking effect. As one of the EU\u2019s most fervent backers of Ukraine, Latvian Foreign Minister Baibe Braze argued that \u201cEU sanctions against Russia must be strengthened, not weakened. Therefore, Latvia cannot agree to the widely proposed suggestion.\u201d
\nAs negotiations restarted on Tuesday, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky thanked Braze for \u201ckeeping up the legal front against the war of aggression against Ukraine,\u201d and declared that Usmanov and Fridman\u2019s names \u201cmust be on the sanctions lists.\u201d
\nUltimately, Latvia took a position of \u2018constructive abstention\u2019 and allowed the other member states to press ahead with delisting the two tycoons and renewing the remaining sanctions.
\nUsmanov\u2019s delisting removes a potential legal nightmare for the EU. As RT already explored this week, the billionaire\u2019s repeated litigation has undermined Brussels\u2019 case against him, and an additional lawsuit against the EU threatened to expose the bloc\u2019s secret \u201cevidence packs\u201d used to build the case. Several high-profile Russian businessmen have already been delisted after the shaky evidence in these packs was made public, and a legal win by Usmanov would have cast the legal rationale for sanctions into further disrepute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A last-minute intervention from Vladimir Zelensky failed to stop the bloc delisting Alisher Usmanov The EU\u2019s 27 member states have agreed to remove Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t