A last-minute intervention from Vladimir Zelensky failed to stop the bloc delisting Alisher Usmanov The EU’s 27 member states have agreed to remove Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from their sanctions blacklist, ending an impasse that threatened the very foundation of the bloc’s anti-Russian penalty regime.In a deal brokered by Ireland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, the member states agreed on Tuesday to remove Usmanov and Fridman from the blacklist. In exchange, the bloc extended sanctions on roughly 3,000 other Russian and Russian-linked entities and individuals by three years instead of the usual six months.Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek metals tycoon, was sanctioned by the EU in February 2022 over his alleged ties to the Kremlin. The EU came to this conclusion based on media reports which have been proven false by Usmanov’s legal team over a series of lawsuits, and the billionaire used these legal victories to argue that he had been sanctioned based on false evidence.However, it was France that pushed for his delisting, having negotiated a deal in which Azerbaijan would free two French citizens – one of whom was imprisoned for espionage – in exchange for the de-sanctioning of Usmanov. A Turkic nation like Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan was one of several countries that lobbied for Usmanov.