Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) September 22, 2026 – Latvia has refused to support a European Union compromise extending sanctions on almost 3,000 Russia-linked individuals and entities because the deal would remove Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the list. The dispute has pushed negotiations to the final day before the current measures expire, threatening the entire sanctions regime as unanimous consent from all 27 member states remains a mandatory procedural requirement.
Latvia has blocked a proposed European Union agreement to renew individual sanctions imposed over Russia’s war against Ukraine, rejecting a compromise that would remove businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the sanctions list in return for extending the remaining measures for three years. Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs stated that Riga supported a 36-month extension but could not accept the removal of the two men as the price of securing agreement among all member states. The immediate problem is procedural as well as political, because European Union sanctions of this type require unanimity, meaning that a disagreement over individual listings can prevent the renewal of the entire regime.
Expiration Deadline Pressures Brussels Negotiations
The current legal extension runs only until 22 September, after the Council gave member states an additional seven days to complete their review. The previous six-month renewal had been due to expire on 15 September. European Union ambassadors returned to negotiations in Brussels on Tuesday in an attempt to reach an agreement before the deadline. Under the proposal under discussion, sanctions against roughly 3,000 other Russia-linked individuals and entities would be renewed for three years, reducing the frequency with which governments have to reopen the entire list. Latvia has accepted the principle of a longer renewal but objected to linking it directly to the removal of Usmanov and Fridman.
The dispute follows an earlier round of negotiations when ambassadors were already struggling to resolve demands for the two businessmen to be taken off the list. The broader sanctions regime covers asset freezes, restrictions on travel to the European Union, and a prohibition on making funds or economic resources available to listed individuals and organisations. When the Council renewed the measures in March, around 2,600 individuals and entities were covered. Subsequent listings have increased that number, with the bloc expanding sanctions beyond the most established Russian targets, increasingly moving towards military supply chains, financial networks, shipping, and companies involved in supporting Russia’s defence sector.
France, Slovakia, and Luxembourg Press for Delistings
The present deadlock began after France joined Slovakia in seeking the removal of Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek businessman who has been subject to European Union sanctions since 2022. France has cited national-security considerations in explaining its position. Diplomatic reporting has linked the French request to wider discussions involving Azerbaijan and French citizens detained there, although Paris has not publicly set out the details of those negotiations. Luxembourg, meanwhile, has sought the removal of Fridman. The Russian businessman has challenged European Union restrictive measures through the courts and has also brought an arbitration claim against Luxembourg reportedly worth almost $16 billion.
Both cases demonstrate how individual sanctions have become increasingly entangled with litigation, bilateral diplomacy, and national interests. Legal challenges to European Union sanctions against Russian businessmen, including the cases involving Usmanov and Fridman, have continuously tested the bloc’s administrative resilience. The renewed dispute highlights one of the persistent weaknesses in the European Union sanctions process: every extension requires the consent of all member states. That has repeatedly allowed governments to delay packages or seek concessions unrelated to the majority of measures under discussion.
Structural Challenges in Unanimous Voting Procedures
In July, ambassadors again failed to reach agreement on sanctions against Russia as national economic interests complicated negotiations. Disputes over shipping, energy, and other commercial interests were increasingly shaping talks as sanctions moved deeper into sectors still connected to Russian trade. The bloc has already tried to reduce the frequency of such confrontations through efforts to move some Russia sanctions towards longer renewal periods, limiting the number of occasions on which an individual government can use renewal as negotiating leverage. The proposed three-year extension for the individual listings follows the same structural logic.
The present dispute concerns individual sanctions imposed under the European Union framework covering actions that undermine or threaten Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence. It does not automatically affect the wider sectoral sanctions against Russia, including restrictions covering energy, banking, trade, transport, technology, and military-related goods. Those measures form a separate legal framework. The European Union has also continued to add new targets during 2026, such as sanctioning Russian companies linked to electronics used in military drones in July, which formed part of a broader shift towards companies supplying Russia’s military-industrial complex.
The immediate question is now whether Latvia can be persuaded to accept a revised compromise without reopening the demands made by France, Slovakia, and Luxembourg. Without unanimous agreement, the current individual sanctions expire at the end of 22 September, turning a dispute over two names into a decision affecting the entire European Union blacklist.
