France wants Usmanov off the sanctions list in exchange for detainees. The EU extended the deadline by only seven days, and the six-month compromise fell through too

The European Union's individual sanctions against more than three thousand Russian individuals and companies will automatically expire unless the twenty-seven extend them by September 15 at the latest. Member state ambassadors did not approve this on Monday morning and agreed to try again the same day. This is being blocked by Slovakia, which wants Ališer Usmanov and Michail Fridman removed from the list, and, since Friday, also by France, which wants Usmanov excluded — and which has not explained the reason for its change of position to the other member states in any detail. In the end, the sanctions neither expired nor were extended: on Monday evening, ambassadors pushed the deadline itself back seven days, to September 22. Reuters cez N1 ↗ And the French reason, which Paris refused to explain, was in the meantime described by journalists: according to the Financial Times, Usmanov's removal is supposed to be part of a deal with Azerbaijan over the release of detained French citizens. Financial Times ↗

Sanctions neither expired nor were extended — the Union bought itself seven days

The second round of Monday talks also failed to produce a deal. Ambassadors therefore did not vote on the list, but instead bought themselves more time: the new deadline runs until midnight on September 22, and until then the sanctions remain unchanged. Reuters cez N1 ↗ Kyiv Post ↗ 24 Chasa ↗

Zelensky commented on this in his evening address on September 14: "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." Kyiv Independent ↗ 24sata ↗

The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the member states, which prepares the Council's decisions in Brussels, held an emergency meeting on Monday morning. According to three diplomats cited by the Ukrainian outlet European Pravda, it ended without consensus, and the ambassadors agreed to try again the same day. The Council itself did not comment on the course of the negotiations. European Pravda ↗

The deadline is a hard one. Individual sanctions imposed for undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity must be extended by September 15 at the latest, or they automatically expire for more than three thousand individuals and legal entities, mostly from the Russian Federation. Danas ↗ Romanian media described it as a race against time — the Union has only one day left. Digi24 ↗

The extension requires unanimity among all twenty-seven states. A single country can therefore bring down the entire list simply by doing nothing.

The two men it's all about

Ališer Usmanov is a Russian-Uzbek billionaire worth around fourteen billion dollars. The Union sanctioned him in February 2022. According to Lithuania's public broadcaster, his holding company Metalloinvest supplied components to weapons manufacturers, including a Kalashnikov maker, and his business empire controlled banks that financed defense production. LRT ↗

Michail Fridman, according to the same estimates, is worth $16.6 billion. According to the same broadcaster, his Alfa Bank provided loans to the arms industry, and the insurer AlfaStrakhovanie was a long-standing insurance partner of the Russian armed forces. LRT ↗

The same caveat applies to both names: these are claims taken from sanctions argumentation and investigative findings, not from audited company reports.

Both are also fighting their listing in court, and have partly succeeded. In April 2024, the General Court of the European Union annulled Fridman's listing for the period from February 2022 to March 2023, ruling that the Council's evidence was insufficient — however, the sanctions against him remained in force through later decisions not covered by the ruling. The Moscow Times ↗ Usmanov did not succeed in court either, back in February 2024. The General Court also dismissed his lawsuit in September 2025 eucrim ↗, and his appeal to the Court of Justice has been pending since November 2025.

The sanctions regime around Usmanov is also fraying elsewhere. On June 11 this year, the Administrative Court in Frankfurt am Main ruled that the obligation to freeze the superyacht Dilbar, linked to Usmanov, could not stand, because it had not been proven that the vessel was controlled by the sanctioned individual. This did not lift his personal sanctions, and according to a legal analysis from September 1, the ruling was not final. Hospodárske noviny ↗

What Paris didn't explain, journalists described: an exchange for detainees in Azerbaijan

Until Friday, September 11, Slovakia was alone in this matter. That day, France joined the demand to remove Usmanov — without explaining the shift in its position to the other member states. According to people familiar with the negotiations, this caused surprise and dissatisfaction among several delegations, and France's permanent representation to the Union did not respond to a request for comment. Danas ↗

The only thing that came out of Paris was a reference to security. A French diplomat put it this way: "We have a separate issue related to national security, and we would like to respond positively to our international partners who have approached us regarding Mr Usmanov." Ukrajinská pravda ↗ Paris did not specify exactly what that issue concerns — and neither the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor Usmanov's representatives explained it in any further detail. It was the Financial Times that finally provided an answer: according to it, France is seeking Usmanov's removal as part of a deal with Azerbaijan over the release of French citizens detained in Baku. The removal itself, which the FT says is a condition of that deal, requires the consent of all twenty-seven states — not an exchange of persons between Paris and Baku. Financial Times ↗ Euronews ↗ Among the detainees is businessman Martin Ryan, sentenced to ten years for espionage, and Anass Derraz, whose sentence was reduced by an appeals court. Kyiv Independent ↗ The French government refused to comment on the matter, and even this account is not an official confirmation — it is a finding by journalists, not a statement from Paris. Euronews ↗

There is a contradiction here worth noting. France is, at the same time, pushing for tighter sanctions pressure on Russia and support for Ukraine. Danas ↗

Italy and Croatia joined in — as an attempt at compromise

Rome and Zagreb also joined the demand to remove Usmanov. According to negotiators, they did not do so because they agreed with it, but in order to find a compromise before a decision is made on the entire list. Danas ↗ An Italian newspaper summed it up briefly: Italy is calling for the sanctions against Usmanov to be lifted. That newspaper, too, gave no explicit justification. Il Fatto Quotidiano ↗

Most member states remain opposed to the French-Slovak demand. According to Lithuania's public broadcaster, another compromise is on the table — not touching the names, but shortening the extension from one year to six months. The broadcaster attributes it to Ireland; other outlets mention it without naming an author. This compromise didn't go through either — according to Reuters, member states failed to agree specifically on the six-month extension, so only the postponement of the deadline remained on the table. Reuters cez N1 ↗ LSM ↗ LRT ↗

Why this time the dispute is also about duration

The Irish proposal only makes sense with context that gets lost in the coverage. The subject of the negotiations is not just who remains on the list, but also for how long. Until now, individual sanctions had been extended every six months, and now there is a proposal on the table to extend them all at once for a year. According to information from Brussels, it was precisely this form that Slovakia was rejecting. Aktuality.sk ↗

The difference is a practical one. With an annual cycle, the opportunity to block the list opens once every twelve months; with a six-month cycle, twice as often.

A similar scene played out in the spring, too. The sanctions were extended that time on March 14, and Slovakia insisted until the last moment on removing the same two names — that time together with Hungary. It did not succeed. The Council at that time did not renew the sanctions on two other individuals and removed five deceased persons from the list. Danas ↗

The limits of this account

Information about the course of the negotiations comes from diplomats, via the Ukrainian outlet European Pravda and the British Financial Times, whose findings on the positions of France, Italy and Croatia are picked up by the Serbian daily Danas. They therefore do not come from an official Council statement. The shift of the deadline to September 22 has already been confirmed by Reuters and picked up by outlets in eight countries, but Paris has neither confirmed nor denied France's actual sanctions reasoning itself. LRT ↗ Radio Sarajevo ↗ BFM TV ↗ The Azerbaijan strand rests on a single primary source — the Financial Times' findings, which other outlets are picking up.

The reason for France's change of position is not publicly documented. We only know how one diplomat described it, and that is a claim, not proof. The same applies to the motive of Italy and Croatia, which no one has explained.

The Slovak government has not publicly justified its demand. From Brussels we know what it is asking for, not why — and that is a distinction that is easy to lose while reading.

And finally: even if the sanctions were actually to lapse on September 22, that would not mean the end of the sanctions regime against Russia. It is one of several regimes — the oldest one, tied to the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity. Sectoral economic sanctions have their own cycle and are not affected by this negotiation.

What hotinfo is tracking

*Illustrative photo: the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, seat of the Council of the European Union. Author JLogan, Wikimedia Commons, license CC BY 3.0.*