EU Removes Two Russian Oligarchs From Sanctions List, Extends Broader Regime to 2029

European Union member states have agreed to remove Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the bloc's Russia sanctions list, even as they extended the wider sanctions regime covering roughly 3,000 individuals and entities for another three years, through September 2029. Diplomats confirmed the compromise on Wednesday, just ahead of a deadline requiring unanimous renewal of the sanctions package.

A Deal Driven by National Pressure

The delistings followed sustained pressure from individual member states rather than any broader policy shift on Russia. France pushed for Usmanov's removal on what it described as national security grounds, a request widely linked to a prisoner exchange arrangement involving French nationals and Azerbaijan. Luxembourg followed with a similar request for Fridman, who holds dual Russian-Israeli citizenship and has separately sued the Grand Duchy for roughly 16 billion dollars over the freezing of his assets there.

Both men were originally sanctioned in the early months of the Ukraine war over their perceived closeness to the Kremlin and their business empires spanning metals, telecoms and banking. Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek metals and telecoms magnate, and Fridman, a co-founder of Alfa Group, have spent years contesting their designations in European courts with mixed results.

Bloc-Wide Sanctions Still Extended

Despite the individual delistings, EU governments held the line on the broader sanctions architecture. The package targeting roughly 3,000 Russian individuals and entities, covering asset freezes and travel bans tied to the invasion of Ukraine, was renewed for a further 36 months rather than the usual six-month cycle, pushing the next review out to September 2029. Officials described the longer renewal window as an attempt to reduce the diplomatic horse-trading that accompanies each biannual vote, where holdout states have previously used the process as leverage for unrelated national demands.

Kyiv Reacts With Anger

Ukrainian officials reacted sharply to the delistings, arguing that the EU should be tightening pressure on Moscow rather than carving out exceptions for individuals with ties to the Kremlin. Kyiv has repeatedly warned that piecemeal removals set a precedent that wealthy, well-connected Russians can lobby their way off sanctions lists through friendly EU capitals, undermining the credibility of the broader regime even as its headline scope is extended.

The episode also highlights the recurring tension inside the EU's sanctions machinery, which requires unanimity among all 27 member states to renew or amend restrictive measures. That requirement has repeatedly given individual governments outsized leverage, with countries such as Hungary and Slovakia also historically using the renewal process to press unrelated grievances, even as the bloc insists its overall posture toward Moscow remains unchanged.

For now, the compromise keeps the core sanctions architecture intact through 2029, giving European businesses and policymakers a longer runway of certainty, even as questions persist over how consistently the list itself will be enforced against politically connected individuals in the years ahead.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.