EU Delays Russia Sanctions Renewal to September 22 Amid Fight Over Delisting Oligarchs

The European Union has pushed back the deadline for renewing its sanctions regime against Russia by a week, giving member states until midnight on September 22 to reach an agreement after talks stalled over demands to remove two prominent Russian oligarchs from the blacklist. A spokesperson for the Presidency of the Council of the EU confirmed the extension, which was granted to allow "additional time for member states to comprehensively examine proposals for the renewal."

The sanctions, which cover roughly 2,600 Russian entities and individuals and include asset freezes and travel bans, require unanimous approval from all 27 EU member states and must be renewed every six months. The previous deadline, which would have lapsed on September 15, had already been under strain for weeks.

France's surprise intervention

What has complicated this round of renewal talks is a surprise push from France, alongside long-time holdout Slovakia, to delist Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov. Reports have suggested France's request is tied to a separate, unrelated matter: securing the release of French citizens detained in Azerbaijan, reportedly contingent on all 27 member states agreeing to ease sanctions on Usmanov. Paris has not publicly detailed the connection, citing only an unspecified "security matter."

Slovakia, which has resisted the sanctions renewal in previous cycles as well, is separately pushing to delist both Usmanov and fellow tycoon Mikhail Fridman, a co-founder of the Russian conglomerate Alfa-Group who is widely described as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Luxembourg has added another twist, indicating that if Usmanov is removed from the list, it wants Fridman delisted as well.

Kyiv pushes back

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used his evening address to warn against any softening toward sanctioned Russian businessmen, saying, "This is definitely not the time to lift sanctions, definitely not the time to shield Russian oligarchs from sanctions, and definitely not the time for Europe to give Russia any gifts." Ukraine's presidential sanctions commissioner separately criticised the push to delist Fridman, noting that ongoing legal and financial proceedings in Ukraine are directly tied to sanctions against him.

Fridman's Alfa-Group has previously faced scrutiny over reports that a subsidiary insurer provided coverage for vehicles used by Russian forces in Ukraine, while Usmanov was described in the EU's original 2022 sanctions listing as one of Putin's favoured oligarchs.

What happens next

With the extended deadline now set for September 22, EU diplomats face a tight window to resolve the dispute without triggering a lapse in the sanctions regime, which would require unanimous consent to reinstate. The episode highlights how internal EU politics, and in this case an apparently unrelated prisoner-release negotiation, can complicate the bloc's unified stance on Russia even as the war in Ukraine continues into its fifth year. Brussels has not indicated whether a compromise excluding some individuals while retaining others is under consideration.

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