Dispute over EU sanctions: At the price of two Russian oligarchs

afp | A few hours before a deadline for extending EU sanctions against Moscow expired, member states agreed to lift measures against two Russian oligarchs. At the same time, EU sanctions against around 3,000 people and organizations were extended by 36 months, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday. Until now, an extension of six months was usual.

According to diplomats, Latvia agreed to abstain from the dispute in order not to further block the agreement. The deadline for extending the sanctions would have expired at midnight. The Baltic state had previously categorically rejected the decision to lift sanctions against Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman.

The EU had already postponed the deadline for extending sanctions to midnight on Wednesday night last week due to the dispute over the lifting of sanctions against Usmanov and Fridman.

France had pushed for sanctions against Usmanov to be lifted. Paris bases its demand on matters of “national security” without publicly giving details. A senior diplomat in Brussels told AFP that Paris had linked its demand to a possible deal on French citizens held in Azerbaijan.

According to diplomatic circles, Luxembourg demanded that Fridman be removed from the sanctions list if the EU agreed to remove Usmanov. Fridman has sued Luxembourg over the freezing of his assets there worth around 16 billion euros.

The sanctions imposed after Russia's attack on Ukraine more than four and a half years ago must be extended unanimously by EU countries. The sanctions include an asset freeze as well as an entry and business ban.