Key facts
- EU ambassadors failed to finalize a deal on renewing sanctions against nearly 3,000 Russian individuals and entities on September 21.
- Negotiations will resume at 8 a.m. Brussels time on September 22.
- The proposed deal would remove businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the EU sanctions list.
- Restrictions on approximately 3,000 other individuals and entities would be extended for 36 months.
- Latvia was the sole country withholding approval of the proposed compromise late on September 21.
- Ukraine has strongly opposed removing either businessman from the sanctions list.
European Union ambassadors failed late on September 21 to finalize a deal on renewing sanctions against nearly 3,000 Russia-linked individuals and entities, with negotiations set to continue just hours before the measures are due to expire.
Coreper II, the EU ambassadors’ body, stated that talks would resume at 8 a.m. Brussels time on September 22 with the aim of finalizing agreement. The agreement had initially been expected to be confirmed by 8 p.m. on September 21, but Latvia remained opposed to the proposed compromise, according to three national diplomats.
The deal negotiated earlier in the day would see Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman removed from the EU sanctions list. Restrictions on approximately 3,000 other individuals and entities would be extended for 36 months, a significantly longer period than the bloc's usual six- or 12-month renewal terms. The individual sanctions, which include asset freezes and travel bans, require unanimous approval from all 27 EU member states.
A temporary seven-day extension adopted last week keeps the existing measures in force only until September 22. Failure to reach an agreement risks allowing the entire list to lapse. The dispute does not affect the EU's separate sectoral sanctions against the Russian economy.
Latvia was the sole country still withholding approval of the proposed compromise late on September 21, according to the diplomats. The impasse follows weeks of disputes over Usmanov and Fridman. France joined Slovakia in pushing for Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek billionaire, to be removed from the blacklist. Luxembourg subsequently sought the removal of Fridman. Both men have challenged the EU sanctions imposed on them following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine has strongly opposed removing either businessman from the sanctions list. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated on September 21 that delisting is unacceptable and would send the wrong signal to Moscow. Ukraine's sanctions envoy Vladyslav Vlasiuk argued that lifting restrictions while the war continues would signal that sanctions could be waited out. Ukraine's ambassador to the EU, Taras Kachka, also criticized the proposed compromise, saying that "compromise only invites Moscow to raise the stakes."