The European Union has not agreed to extend personal sanctions against Russia.
An EU official informed Babel correspondent Yulia Gyra about this.
According to the interlocutor, discussions are ongoing, but all legal procedures must be completed by midnight on September 22. The Committee of Permanent Representatives at the level of EU ambassadors will meet tomorrow at 09:00 to agree on extending the sanctions.
Reuters sources said the day before that the EU may lift sanctions against Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mykhailo Fridman. One of the reasons for the disagreement of some countries regarding the extension of sanctions is the presence of Usmanov on the list.
France and Slovakia demanded that Usmanov be exempted from sanctions. At the same time, Croatia and Italy supported the decision in order to reach a compromise.
Friedman, meanwhile, is seeking $16 billion from Luxembourg over the freezing of his assets after the sanctions were imposed. The case is being heard by an international arbitration court in Hong Kong. According to Reuters sources, Luxembourg feared that its position in the case would be weakened if Usmanov were removed from the sanctions list separately.
- The EU imposed sanctions on Usmanov and Fridman in 2022 after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The restrictions include a ban on entry to the EU and a freeze on assets in the bloc.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.