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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly called on the European Union and its member states to keep oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman under sanctions, as talks on renewing the blacklist enter their final stages in Brussels.
The entire list will expire if ambassadors fail to find a deal by the end of Tuesday.
“The world needs not a political delisting, but timely and unconditional rollover of individual sanctions, until Moscow engages in serious peace negotiations and takes concrete steps to end its war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
“This is the shortest path to peace we all are striving for. Every Ukrainian family is counting on EU unity and solidarity.”
The two high-profile billionaires, sanctioned in the early days of the war, could be removed in a compromise aimed at appeasing France, which has been trying for days to remove Usmanov as part of a prisoner release with Azerbaijan.
Slovakia has long pushed for both Usmanov and Fridman to be dropped from the sanctions list. Meanwhile, Luxembourg says that if Usmanov is removed, Fridman should be too. Fridman has filed a $16 billion claim against Luxembourg over his frozen assets.
The fragile compromise, which would extend the individual sanctions for an unprecedented 36 months to offset the political pain of deleting the two names, was tabled on Monday but stopped by Latvia at the last minute.
Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said the 36-month renewal would be “the right step” but warned “the price for it” cannot be the removal of the two businessmen.
In his social media post, Zelenskyy personally thanked Kulbergs for his stance.
“As Russia is escalating the killing of civilians – there have been more attacks overnight and into the day with drones and ballistic missiles – pressure on Moscow must be strengthened. In particular, against enablers of Putin’s war. Against those who benefit from the aggression,” Zelenskyy said.
“Every crime against peaceful Ukrainians has a name. And as long as this war continues, these names must be on the sanctions lists.”
Zelenskyy’s message was published as he attends the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Zelenskyy met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, but it is unclear if the hot-button issue was discussed.
His appeal marks an extraordinary intervention by a foreign leader amid contentious confidential negotiations between EU countries. His deputies have spent the last few days issuing public calls to keep the two names on the blacklist.
Ambassadors in Brussels met again on Tuesday morning but failed to find a solution, as Latvia and France held their ground. They are set to reconvene at 16.00 CET.
The compromise under discussion remains the same as on Monday.
Meanwhile, Russia has backed the push to exempt the oligarchs.
“We believe that these sanctions should be lifted for Usmanov, for Fridman, for all Russian businesspeople, and for all Russian citizens,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, said.