First the European Union, now Switzerland. Bern has removed Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from its sanctions list, where the two businessmen had been since 2022. The change took effect on 4 November, the Swiss outlet finews reports.
Switzerland followed a decision taken in Brussels about six weeks earlier. In total, six people and one company came off the Swiss list. At the same time, restrictions on other individuals and organisations were extended. So this is a review of individual sanctions, not a general softening of Bern’s policy.
The EU took Usmanov and Fridman off its own list on 22 September. That decision followed difficult negotiations between European capitals.
According to Reuters, it was France that pushed for the sanctions on Usmanov to be lifted. Luxembourg, for its part, insisted on removing Fridman, who is claiming $16 billion from the country in an arbitration dispute. In the end a deal was struck: the two businessmen came off the list, and the sanctions on everyone else were extended.
But there is a catch: dropping off the EU list does not mean freedom from every restriction across Europe. After the September decision, Estonia announced that it intends to impose its own sanctions on both businessmen. So in this story it pays to look not only at the name but also at the country: the common lists change, while individual capitals still take different positions.