European Union member states have still not reached agreement on renewing sanctions against around 3,000 Russian individuals and organisations linked to the undermining of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Diplomats had indicated to several media outlets on Monday that a political agreement had been reached, but by Tuesday negotiations were again deadlocked.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU has imposed sanctions including travel bans and asset freezes on thousands of people and entities. These measures must be renewed every six months with the unanimous approval of all member states.
The renewal should have been agreed last week, but ambassadors failed to reach a deal and extended the deadline to 23:59 on Tuesday.
The main dispute centres on a request from Luxembourg and France to remove Russian-Uzbek businessman Alisher Usmanov and Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman from the sanctions list. In exchange, the sanctions would be extended immediately for 36 months.
Although reports on Monday evening suggested a breakthrough, the talks were again stuck by Tuesday morning. Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs wrote on X late on Monday that Latvia could not accept the proposal in its current form.
Other countries are also said to oppose removing the two names, but failure to reach agreement would mean the sanctions on thousands of people could lapse.
