Zelensky Blasts EU as France and Slovakia Push to Delist Russian Oligarchs Before September 15 Sanctions Deadline

EU ambassadors failed on September 11 to agree on renewing sanctions against more than 3,000 Russian entities and individuals ahead of a September 15 deadline, with Slovakia again demanding the delisting of oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Alisher Usmanov and, for the first time, France joining the push to remove Usmanov, who has been under EU sanctions since Russia's 2022 invasion, according to four EU diplomats cited by Euronews 1. French diplomatic sources told European Pravda that Paris's request is tied to an unspecified national-security matter and a request from international partners, while maintaining its broader support for pressure on Russia 1. Other EU diplomats voiced "huge frustration," with one telling Euronews the move "raised a lot of questions about the motivation" and appeared driven mainly by economic interests rather than security 1. President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 12 called delisting the two oligarchs "immoral and self-destructive," arguing it made no sense to ease sanctions "when the Ukrainian economy is simply a target" for Russia and it is launching roughly 500 Shahed drones per day, and urged the EU to intensify rather than ease sanctions on Russian business 23. An EU diplomat told the Kyiv Independent the sanctions are unlikely to lapse outright, with a six-month rather than twelve-month extension the likely worst case if ambassadors, set to reconvene September 14, cannot reach unanimous agreement by the deadline 2.