EU sanctions against Russia: Oh là là, oligarch

In France, the European Union's decision to remove Russian entrepreneur Mikhail Fridman and Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov from the EU sanctions list is attracting attention. In the Usmanov case, the decision was made at the instigation of the state leadership. Now the public is wondering to what extent “national security” was at risk during the debate over the list of sanctioned people and companies, as the Élysée Palace explained.

Le Monde concludes that France "agreed a deal" in the background of official diplomacy to buy the release of two French citizens from Azerbaijan. France paying or making other concessions to free compatriots from prison or hostage is not new. So far, however, this has always been done so discreetly that it could later be publicly denied.

Libération criticizes: By threatening to veto the sanctions list, France is degrading itself to the same level as Orbán's Hungary and Fico's Slovakia. The Foreign Ministry in Paris did not want to comment. It only confirmed that France had “given a positive response to the international partners who approached us regarding Mr Usmanov”.

This coded message does not say who these international partners are or why France gave in to the demand. And in the context, the legitimate question arises as to why France felt compelled to accept such a deal, which could only be detrimental to its foreign policy reputation.

Apparently the two Frenchmen “detained” in Azerbaijan are of (particularly) great importance. This is the only way to explain why Paris is paying such a high price for their return - and from Ukraine's perspective, losing face in the process.

Martin Ryan, who has since been released, was sentenced to ten years in prison in March for espionage on appeal. The prosecution accused the 38-year-old of having recruited him as a spy for the French intelligence service DGSE by members of the French embassy in Baku, who were later expelled. France officially denied this. Ryan has since been released.

Anass Derraz has been in prison for two years. A court sentenced him to twelve years in prison for corruption. Together with his business partner Alexandre Benalla, he promised the Russian-Azerbaijani billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov that he would free his yacht, which was blocked in the Emirates, for $6 million. But their efforts failed and Derraz was arrested for the bribes he collected.

The name Benalla immediately makes people sit up and take notice in France. He was Emmanuel Macron's personal chauffeur and, in 2017, at the beginning of the presidency, he served as security officer, a kind of unofficial bodyguard who went in and out of the Elysée Palace at all times of the day. On May 1, 2018, he caused a scandal when he violently arrested a young couple on the sidelines of a rally without any police authority.

Since then, he has apparently tried to make money by relying on his connections and knowledge in international consulting. He initially illegally presented a diplomatic passport, for example to offer his services to the then Chadian head of state Idriss Déby. For this, a court sentenced him to three years in prison. The fact that the “Benalla connection” is now emerging in connection with Azerbaijan, as Libération called its “consulting” activities on a front page in 2019, is not surprising, but it raises new questions that will probably remain unanswered.

To understand the political price France may have paid by potentially linking the Ryan and Derraz cases, one must look at why Fridman and Usmanov were on the EU sanctions list in the first place.

Fridman is a classic oligarch. Immediately after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022, the EU put him on the sanctions list. Fridman runs Alfa-Bank with his business partner Pyotr Aven. Today it is the largest private financial institution in Russia. In 1996, the bank was one of seven banks that financed the re-election of then Russian President Boris Yeltsin with large loans. These loans were secured by shares in large state-owned raw materials companies. If the loans were not serviced, the shares reverted to the lenders. This is how the Alfa Group and its partners came to the oil company TNK. They later sold it again for $14 billion.

The vast majority of others who are called oligarchs today are “just” billionaires – not moguls with great influence in the Kremlin. Fridman denies this. The EU, however, wrote in 2022 in its sanction justification: Fridman "was able to establish close ties to Vladimir Putin's government and is counted among the most important Russian financiers and supporters of Putin's inner circle. Through his connections to the government, he was able to acquire state assets." And: “He actively supported and benefited from Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine, materially or financially.”

In 2024, Fridman, estimated by US business magazine Forbes to be worth $16.6 billion, won a verdict before the Court of the European Union stating that there was insufficient evidence that Fridman and Awen supported or benefited from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to Fridman, people in the EU do not understand how the power system in Russia works.

With the proceeds from the TNK sale, Fridman built up his company Letter One, which has large investments abroad - including in the German energy company Wintershall-DEA.

Billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who was also now removed from the EU sanctions list and was born in Uzbekistan and worth $14 billion according to Forbes, was already active in many business areas: from plastic bag production, financial services for collecting unpaid gas bills, to the mining and metals industry, telecommunications, IT, social media, media, building materials, real estate and infrastructure projects. This is bundled in the USM Group, in which Usmanov holds less than half.

Usmanov failed in his legal efforts to have himself removed from the sanctions list before the European Court of Justice in 2024 or 2025. In August 2024, there is said to have been a telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, in which Lavrov, at Usmanov's request, asked for support in removing his sister Gulbahor Ismailova from the EU sanctions list.

Usmanov's spokesman claims that the companies in which he currently holds shares do not specialize in steel production and do not supply materials for weapons production. The EU sanction justification against the former owner of the London football club Arsenal states: “Usmanov is a pro-Kremlin oligarch who has particularly close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

Usmanov and Fridman remain on the sanctions lists of the USA and other countries.