# EU ambassadors stall on Russia sanctions renewal as Slovakia and France seek to delist oligarchs

*Friday, September 11, 2026 at 10:05 PM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-09-11T22:05:53.119Z (2h ago)
**Category**: geopolitics | **Region**: Europe
**Importance**: 7/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/17556.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Deck**: EU ambassadors have so far failed to agree on extending sanctions against Russia after Slovakia and France pushed to remove Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the blacklist. With the regime due to expire on 15 September, the dispute exposes how hard it has become to keep all member states aligned on the economic pressure campaign.

European Union governments have hit a snag in talks to renew sanctions on Russia, just days before the current measures are set to lapse.

On 11 September, EU ambassadors met but couldn’t agree on extending the bloc’s sanctions regime against Russia. Deutsche Welle reports that the breakdown came after disputes over whether to take several businessmen off the sanctions list.

According to those reports, Slovakia wants Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman removed from the blacklist. France also supports removing Usmanov. Another meeting of ambassadors is planned for 14 September, one day before the sanctions regime expires.

Formally, the argument is over individual listings, but it comes at a moment when the EU needs unanimity to keep its Russia sanctions intact. Any member state can withhold agreement and use that leverage to press for changes.

For the affected businessmen, remaining on or leaving the list has clear consequences, including asset freezes and travel bans in the EU. For Russia and Ukraine, the outcome will be read as a signal of how firmly Europe intends to maintain its economic pressure.

The debate plays out against a broader backdrop in which Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed what he calls "Western globalists" for mistakes that he says helped cause the current crisis in Ukraine and wider economic problems in Europe. He has pointed, for example, to an 8% fall in German industrial production in recent years and argued that European countries are being pushed toward conflict with Russia even though, he insists, Russia does not intend to threaten them.

Inside the EU, leaders face domestic pressures over energy costs, inflation and political parties that question aspects of sanctions policy. That makes each renewal of measures more politically sensitive than the last.

The immediate test is whether ambassadors on 14 September can agree to roll over the Russia sanctions before they expire and, if they do, whether any prominent names are dropped in the process. A failure to extend the regime on time, or a visible easing on high‑profile figures, would be closely watched in Moscow and Kyiv.