The European Union has agreed to remove Uzbek-Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov from its sanctions list after fraught negotiations that saw France link his delisting to a prisoner release with Azerbaijan, unsettling Brussels.

A second Russian oligarch, Mikhail Fridman, was also removed after Slovakia vetoed his continued listing, several diplomats told Euronews.

Luxembourg had argued that if Usmanov was removed, Fridman should be too. Fridman has filed a $16 billion claim against Luxembourg over his frozen assets.

Ambassadors sealed the compromise on Tuesday afternoon after two weeks of drawn-out talks that brought the bloc’s sanctions regime to…

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