The European Union has agreed to lift sanctions on two prominent Russian oligarchs — Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman — as part of a last-minute deal to extend its broader sanctions regime against Russia. The decision, pushed by France and Luxembourg, has sparked sharp criticism from Ukraine and several EU member states who warn it sends the wrong signal to Moscow at a critical moment in the war.

The agreement was reached just hours before a midnight deadline, after which the entire sanctions package — covering nearly 3,000 individuals and entities — would have expired. Under EU rules, sanctions must be renewed unanimously every six months. Latvia, which had categorically opposed removing the two oligarchs, ultimately agreed to abstain rather than block the deal entirely. In exchange, the renewal period for the remaining sanctions was extended from six months to three years, a change intended to reduce the leverage any single member state can exert by threatening to withhold approval. The sanctions will now remain in force until September 2029 unless actively reversed.

France pushed for the removal of Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek billionaire described by the EU in 2022 as a