The French Foreign Ministry has declined to name the international partners pressing for Alisher Usmanov’s removal from the EU sanctions list and has not explained the “national security considerations” it cited earlier.
Paris has confirmed that it supports taking the Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov off the European Union’s sanctions list, but it would not say which countries made the request or what the previously mentioned “specific national security issue” consists of.
Diplomatic sources at the French Foreign Ministry had earlier said that France has “a separate issue related to national security” and that Paris “would like to respond positively to our international partners who have approached us regarding Mr Usmanov.” The ministry refused to identify those partners or provide any further detail. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson also declined to comment on possible links between France’s position and the case of French citizens held in Azerbaijan.
According to Western media, including the Financial Times and Reuters, France’s stance is connected to talks on a possible release of French nationals detained in Azerbaijan. European diplomats have said privately that Baku is using the Usmanov issue as leverage. Paris itself has neither confirmed nor denied those reports.
France has aligned itself with Slovakia, which has long sought to have Usmanov — and Mikhail Fridman — taken off the list. Because of the disagreement, EU ambassadors on 14 September failed to agree on the routine six-month renewal of individual sanctions covering some 2,600–3,000 people and entities. The measures were extended for only one week, until 22 September.
French diplomats stress that France remains one of the most consistent advocates of tighter pressure on Russia and support for Ukraine. They insist this is a standalone case, not a general easing of the sanctions regime. Other EU member states reportedly received Paris’s move with bewilderment and demanded a fuller explanation, fearing it would set a precedent.
Alisher Usmanov has been under EU sanctions since 2022. Brussels justified the designation by citing his “particularly close ties” to Vladimir Putin. Usmanov is challenging those findings in court.
