Unanimous Disagreement: Paris Pushes to Remove Russian Tycoon from EU Sanctions List

France has sparked a diplomatic standoff in Brussels by proposing to remove Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov from the European Union's sanctions blacklist. The request from Paris has run into firm resistance from other EU member states, leaving capitals deadlocked over whether to grant the delisting. Usmanov was placed under EU restrictive measures following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, facing an asset freeze and travel ban across the bloc. Paris is now lobbying to scrub his name from the target list, but other European governments remain unconvinced.

EU sanctions are only as durable as the political discipline behind them. For European citizens, this rift reveals how the bloc's foreign policy actually works behind the rhetoric of unity. A single member state can demand changes to the sanctions list, forcing all 27 capitals to renegotiate who belongs on it. When a major power like France pushes to remove a high-profile billionaire, it raises uncomfortable questions about the consistency of European sanctions policy and tests whether member states can maintain a coherent front.

In the EU capital, maintaining sanctions is an exercise in diplomatic endurance. Foreign policy decisions are handled by the Council of the European Union, where the golden rule is unanimity: all 27 countries must agree, giving every capital a full veto. Delisting an individual requires the exact same total consensus as adding one. In the quiet corridors where Coreper—the committee of national ambassadors who do the heavy lifting before ministers meet—prepares decisions, French negotiators are pushing against a solid wall of skepticism. It is a textbook example of Council machinery in action: a system designed so that everyone must agree usually results in negotiations where nobody gets precisely what they want.

National diplomats will continue arguing the case in Council working groups ahead of the upcoming legal deadline to renew the sanctions regime. If Paris fails to persuade every single one of its 26 partners to support the delisting, Usmanov will remain on the sanctions list when the measures are formally extended.