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Why Latvia Blocked the EU’s Three-Year Russia Sanctions Deal
EU ambassadors could not finalize a 36 month renewal of sanctions on nearly 3,000 Russia linked people and entities because Latvia rejected the price of the deal: delisting Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman. France, Slovakia and Luxembourg supported removing one or both businessmen for different reported reasons,...
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- EU ambassadors could not finalize a 36 month renewal of sanctions on nearly 3,000 Russia linked people and entities because Latvia rejected the price of the deal: delisting Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman.
- France, Slovakia and Luxembourg supported removing one or both businessmen for different reported reasons, while Latvia argued EU pressure on Russia should be strengthened rather than weakened.
- Without a unanimous renewal, the targeted individual listing regime risked expiring; the separate EU economic sanctions against Russia were not part of this rollover.
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openai.comCreate a landscape editorial hero image for this Studio Global article: Why did EU ambassadors fail to agree before the Sept. 22 midnight deadline on extending for three years sanctions against nearly 3,000 Russi. Article summary: EU ambassadors missed agreement because unanimity was required and Latvia refused the proposed trade-off: remove Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the blacklist in exchange for a three-year renewal of restrictions. Topic tags: general, general web, government. Style: premium digital editorial illustration, source-backed research mood, clean composition, high detail, modern web publication hero. Use reference image context only for broad subject, composition, and topical grounding; do not copy the exact image. Avoid: logos, brand marks, copyrighted characters, real person likenesses, fake screenshots, UI text, readable text, watermarks, charts with fake n
EU ambassadors failed to complete a deal before the September 22 midnight deadline because the EU’s targeted Russia sanctions required unanimous backing and Latvia would not accept a compromise that removed two prominent businessmen from the blacklist. The proposed package would have extended restrictions on nearly 3,000 other people and entities for an unprecedented three years, but Latvia viewed the delistings as an unacceptable weakening of pressure on Russia. 14
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The compromise on the table
The proposed bargain had two linked parts:
- Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman would be delisted, ending the EU asset freezes and travel bans that applied to them.
- The remaining targeted listings would be renewed for 36 months, rather than the usual shorter rollover, delaying the next broad renewal fight until 2029.
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Diplomats had reached a provisional understanding, but it still needed every EU member state to sign off. Latvia withheld approval, preventing the package from being finalized. 18
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Why France, Slovakia and Luxembourg backed delisting
The countries seeking changes were not necessarily acting for the same reasons.
Slovakia had been central to the earlier deadlock and had pressed for Usmanov’s removal; reporting also indicated that it sought Fridman’s delisting as part of the eventual compromise. 3
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France sought Usmanov’s removal amid reports that this could help secure the release of French nationals detained in Azerbaijan. That connection was reported by multiple outlets, but it remains a reported diplomatic linkage, not an independently established condition set by Azerbaijan. 2
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Luxembourg said that if Usmanov were removed, Fridman should be removed too. Reports connected Luxembourg’s position to Fridman’s roughly $16 billion arbitration claim against the country over frozen assets, though the available reporting does not establish that claim as Luxembourg’s definitive motive. 1
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Why Latvia’s objection was decisive
Latvia became the final obstacle because targeted EU sanctions need agreement from all 27 member states. Its position was that a deal trading two delistings for a longer renewal would dilute the EU’s sanctions policy. Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže said sanctions should be “strengthened, not weakened,” according to reporting on the talks. 14
That illustrates the vulnerability of unanimity-based sanctions renewals: even when a broad package has support, a single government can block it if it objects to one element of the bargain.
What was at stake at midnight
The immediate risk concerned the EU’s individual sanctions list: the asset freezes and travel bans covering nearly 3,000 Russia-linked individuals and entities. An earlier failure to agree had already forced a seven-day technical extension from September 15 to September 22. 14
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If the EU could not complete the necessary legal procedures with unanimous approval, those targeted listings risked lapsing. The stakes were therefore much larger than the status of two names: a disagreement over Usmanov and Fridman threatened the legal continuity of the wider individual-designations regime. 14
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This did not mean that all EU measures against Russia would disappear. The separate sectoral economic sanctions were outside this particular rollover and would remain unaffected. 14
Responses ahead of renewed talks
EU foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas urged member states to preserve the sanctions and said officials were working to conclude the rollover quickly. She stressed the need for stability in the regime while negotiations continued. 20
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Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi urged the EU not to ease sanctions, arguing that Europe should not treat those enabling Russia’s war as friends while Ukraine remained under attack. 39
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys likewise argued publicly for greater pressure on Russia and those enabling Kremlin aggression. His reported remarks were made in the context of further Russia-related measures, rather than as a documented statement specifically about the Usmanov-Fridman compromise. 41
The planned Tuesday-morning talks were therefore an attempt to resolve not only a dispute over two delistings, but also a structural problem: how to keep a major sanctions list in force when every renewal depends on unanimous political consent. 14
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What is the short answer to "Why Latvia Blocked the EU’s Three-Year Russia Sanctions Deal"?
EU ambassadors could not finalize a 36 month renewal of sanctions on nearly 3,000 Russia linked people and entities because Latvia rejected the price of the deal: delisting Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman.
What are the key points to validate first?
EU ambassadors could not finalize a 36 month renewal of sanctions on nearly 3,000 Russia linked people and entities because Latvia rejected the price of the deal: delisting Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman. France, Slovakia and Luxembourg supported removing one or both businessmen for different reported reasons, while Latvia argued EU pressure on Russia should be strengthened rather than weakened.
What should I do next in practice?
Without a unanimous renewal, the targeted individual listing regime risked expiring; the separate EU economic sanctions against Russia were not part of this rollover.
Sources
straitstimes.comEU continues talks on deal to lift sanctions on Russia-linked billionaires Usmanov and Fridman, diplomats say
manilatimes.netNo green light to lift EU sanctions on Russian oligarchs, talks to resume