EU extends sanctions against Russia after Latvia drops veto on oligarchs

The European Union narrowly avoided a sanctions lapse against Russia after Latvia withdrew its opposition to a compromise deal that removes two high-profile oligarchs from the bloc’s sanctions list. The agreement, reached on September 22, extends restrictions on approximately 3,000 other individuals and entities linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine, but the price of consensus was the delisting of Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman. What the deal actually looks like Usmanov, the Uzbek-born metals and telecoms magnate, and Fridman, a Russian-Israeli banking mogul, had both been on the EU sanctions list since early 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Their removal was championed by France and Luxembourg, respectively, each with its own rationale. France pushed for Usmanov’s delisting citing national security reasons. Luxembourg’s support for Fridman’s removal was reportedly tied to a $16B legal claim the businessman had lodged against the state. In exchange for agreeing to these delistings, the EU secured a significant structural change to its sanctions regime. The renewal cycle shifts from every six months to every three years, meaning the current package will ...