The EU extended sanctions against Russia by one week

The EU extended sanctions against Russia by one week

EU ambassadors agreed to extend sanctions against Russia for one week in order to resolve disagreements over the restrictions, EUobserver reported, citing diplomats.

The disagreements were caused by Slovakia’s push to remove Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the sanctions list. Slovakia’s position on Usmanov was also supported by France, Italy, and Croatia.

France is trying to get billionaire Alisher Usmanov removed from EU sanctions in exchange for its citizens stuck in Azerbaijan. To put pressure on allies, the French, together with the Slovaks, blocked the one-year extension of the restrictions, so the EU had to extend them for only a week - otherwise the sanctions would have fallen away for everyone.