Rich dictator friend

The decision made waves: On Tuesday last week, the EU lifted its sanctions against the Russian-Uzbek billionaire and entrepreneur Alisher Usmanov, which had been in force since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It also lifted the sanctions against the Russian-Israeli entrepreneur Mikhail Fridman, but at the same time extended all remaining Russia sanctions by an unusually long three years. The lifted sanctions included a ban on the two men's business activities and entry into the EU as well as a freeze on their assets.

France's commitment to the lifting of sanctions against Usmanov, which Aliyev had long demanded, was probably in return for the pardon of Ryan by Azerbaijan's dictator.

The decision came under pressure from France, Luxembourg and Slovakia, which had threatened a total block on future sanctions. The process led to strong criticism from many EU states – and Ukraine. They accused the three states of undermining the Russia sanctions in favor of their own interests. A day later, the dictatorial Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, among others, pardoned the French citizen Martin Ryan, who was imprisoned in Azerbaijan on charges of espionage, and who was able to fly out to Paris the next day. France's commitment to the lifting of sanctions against Usmanov, which Aliyev had long demanded, was probably in return for the pardon of Ryan by Azerbaijan's dictator. Ryan was jailed in 2023 when French-Azerbaijani relations were at a low point over France's condemned expulsion of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Usmanov, born in 1953 in the Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, became a powerful entrepreneur in the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, who is also said to be close to Vladimir Putin and the presidents of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Despite EU sanctions from spring 2022, Usmanov's fortune will be over $14 billion in 2026, according to Forbes. Like Fridman, he had also initiated several lawsuits against the EU sanctions.