Henry Foy Published September 22 2026. Standard Chartered, Citigroup and other international banks handled billions of dollars from Kremlin-backed fintech company A7 which tricked its way into the global financial system, according to hundreds of thousands of files obtained in an FT investigation. Today, I explain what the campaign to remove two oligarchs from the EU’s Russia sanctions list means for its future, and my colleague reveals how development aid pays back.

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Billionaires Alisher Usmanov, whose steel plants reportedly supplied Russian tank factories, and Mikhail Fridman, one of Russia’s richest bankers, are two of almost 3,000 individuals and entities under EU sanctions in response to Moscow’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Sanctions require unanimous support to be extended. Paris has demanded Usmanov be removed from the list in order to facilitate a secret deal with Azerbaijan to release French citizens from jail, and threatened to cancel all other sanctions if it does not get its way.

Luxembourg has piggybacked on that, saying it would only agree if Fridman is also delisted. Fridman has an arbitration claim against Luxembourg worth $15.8bn, equivalent to close to half the country’s federal budget. All sanctions expire at midnight tonight if there’s no agreement.

EU ambassadors failed to reach a deal despite all-day talks yesterday and are meeting again this morning. Multiple people said Latvia was refusing to accept the French and Luxembourg ultimatum. A spokesperson for Latvia’s foreign ministry said that “it will be a joint EU decision and EU positions are still being co-ordinated.”.

It’s utterly disgraceful,” said one EU ambassador of being forced to choose between exonerating two oligarchs for national political reasons or giving up the entire list. “This is the end of the sanctions regime.”Under a proposed compromise under discussion, sanctions on other oligarchs would be extended for three years to stop other capitals copying the tactic. Diplomats told the FT that whatever the outcome, the ramifications were far-reaching. First, the concept that sanctions are a joint sacrifice for the sake of Ukraine has been shattered by Paris and Luxembourg leveraging 27 countries’ collective foreign policy for their individual domestic gain.

Multiple diplomats said this would likely mean no state would agree to future sanctions impacting their national interests. Second, Paris’s arrangement with Azerbaijan would show other Russia-friendly states that by imprisoning EU nationals they could influence the bloc’s foreign policy. And third, the demand that Usmanov and Fridman be delisted through a “political” decision — different from the removal of people who have died or successfully argued in court that the evidence against them was insufficient — could see other oligarchs or the Kremlin claim that sanctions are unjustified, political weapons used to punish Russians without credible legal grounds.

It sets a dangerous precedent: apply enough pressure to an EU government and Europe’s Russia policy becomes negotiable,” said Alexander Kirk at human rights NGO Urgewald. We all feel so deeply uncomfortable,” said a second EU ambassador. “But it’s France . . . What could we do?”Chart du jour: Deutsche Bank Some content could not load.

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