Estonian official rejects lifting sanctions on Usmanov and Fridman

There is no reason to remove Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the European Union sanctions list, Estonian Foreign Ministry Deputy Secretary General Kerli Veski told ERR’s Vikerraadio programme Uudis +.

EU member state representatives agreed on Monday to lift the sanctions imposed on Usmanov and Fridman. The move was reportedly the price of securing agreement to extend the EU’s sanctions against Russia.

Latvia’s objections reportedly blocked the decision, Latvian public broadcaster LSM reported late Monday. Member state representatives now have until midnight on Tuesday to find a new solution.

The sanctions were due to expire a week ago, but member states temporarily extended them for another week while seeking an agreement with the countries that had raised demands concerning the two oligarchs. France and Luxembourg had each proposed removing one of the men from the EU sanctions list, apparently for domestic political reasons. Slovakia also sought the removal of the sanctions, according to the report.

“Both oligarchs have been on the sanctions list since 2022 precisely because they are oligarchs who support the Kremlin regime and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” Veski said. “No conditions have eased, their attitude has not changed in any way and their activities have not changed.”

“In our view, and in the view of most countries, there is no reason to remove these oligarchs from the sanctions list,” she said, adding that the countries acting otherwise in line with their national interests should explain their decisions themselves.

Veski said the issue was also whether the EU should allow national interests to determine whether someone is removed from its sanctions list. She warned that easing the sanctions regime could send Russia the wrong message and create a dangerous precedent if other countries later put forward their own national interests.

She said the best solution would be to extend the sanctions regime for at least another six months, or even for three years. Estonia’s main position throughout the negotiations had been that no politically motivated removal from the sanctions list should be considered, she said.

With only hours remaining, various options were being discussed to ensure that all 3,000 names remained under sanctions. Ideally, Veski said, no names would be removed and the sanctions regime would be extended for longer than six months at a time.