The list, which includes roughly three thousand individuals and legal entities, must be renewed every six months with the consent of all member states. Its previous term was due to expire overnight on September 15.
France and Slovakia prevented agreement. According to DW, Slovakia is seeking the removal of Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the list, while France is blocking the renewal and demanding that restrictions be lifted from Usmanov alone.
Paris explains its position as a "specific national security issue" and a desire to give a positive response to international partners who have raised the businessman's case. DW's sources did not specify which partners or interests were involved, citing national security considerations.
A Financial Times interlocutor claims France intervened on Usmanov's behalf as part of a prisoner-exchange agreement with Azerbaijan. According to EUobserver, this could concern the return home of French businessman Martin Ryan, whom a court in Baku sentenced in March to 10 years in prison on charges of gathering information about the army during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
EUobserver suggests the international partners in question are Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, where Usmanov was born. All three countries lobbied in March for the businessman's removal from the sanctions list.
The bloc's other 25 members did not agree to France's and Slovakia's demands. As EUobserver notes, extending the list by a week was an unprecedented step since the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. "We agreed to disagree — for one week," one EU diplomat told the publication.
Sources differ: according to DW, Slovakia is seeking the removal of both Usmanov and Fridman from the list, while France seeks only Usmanov's; Meduza reports that Slovakia's demand concerned only Usmanov. A Financial Times interlocutor links Paris's position to a prisoner-exchange agreement with Azerbaijan; EUobserver names Turkey and Uzbekistan among the possible partners as well.