Lithuania is to impose national sanctions against Usmanov and Friedman

He wrote about this on social media platform X.

“Oligarchs are part of the russian war machine. We cannot allow the regime’s ‘financiers’ to feel at ease in Europe whilst Ukrainians are being killed. I have instructed the relevant authorities to begin the process of imposing national restrictive measures against Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Friedman,” wrote Sinkevičius.

Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Andriy Sibiga, thanked Lithuania for its principled stance on Usmanov and Friedman and called on other EU countries to “follow the example of our Baltic friends”.

“We are grateful to Lithuania for its principled support, as well as for initiating national sanctions against Usmanov and Friedman. We call on all other EU members to follow the example of our Baltic friends and do the same. This is the best way to demonstrate that principles are not for sale,” Sibiga wrote.

On 22 September, the Council of the EU removed Usmanov and Friedman from the sanctions list, along with Andriy Falaleev, the former rector of the occupied Vernadsky University of Crimea, and the Mauritian company Redbird Corporate Services Ltd. According to a source at Suspilne, the countries that advocated for the removal of Friedman and Usmanov from the list (Slovakia, France and Luxembourg — ed.) did not consult or coordinate these actions with Ukraine.

The foreign ministers of Estonia and Latvia have criticised the relevant decision by the Council of the European Union.

In particular, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna described the situation as alarming and noted that his country had already imposed all available national sanctions on these russian oligarchs. Meanwhile, the Latvian Foreign Minister, Baiba Braže, stated that she categorically disagreed with the EU’s decision and announced that Latvia had decided to proceed with the imposition of national sanctions.

Source: X, Suspilne