The EU extends its Russia sanctions list for just one week, keeping Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov designated until ambassadors meet again

European Union ambassadors voted to extend Russia sanctions against Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov for one week only, according to journalists Rikard Jozwiak from EUobserver and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The sanctions list, which includes around 3,000 individuals and entities, was due to expire on September 14-15, but EU countries struggled to reach a unanimous decision on extending it for another six months.

Slovakia and France were the countries that initially pushed for lifting the sanctions on Usmanov. After discussions at a Brussels meeting, EU ambassadors agreed to keep Usmanov on the sanctions list until their next meeting on September 22. This move was unprecedented since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. France was reportedly seeking to remove the sanctions on Usmanov due to a "specific national security issue."

Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan, Usmanov's birth country, had lobbied for his removal from the sanctions list in March. There were suggestions that the French intervention to release Ryan, a French businessman imprisoned in Azerbaijan on charges of gathering military information during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, had played a role in the decision to extend the sanctions against Usmanov.