Lithuania has imposed national sanctions against Russian oligarchs Usmanov and Friedman

On September 25, national sanctions against Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Friedman took effect in Lithuania. Both businessmen were banned from entering the country for a period of five years, with the possibility of a subsequent review and extension of this ban.

The country’s authorities decided to impose their own restrictive measures after the European Union removed Usmanov and Friedman from its “blacklists.”

Rokas Pukinskas, a spokesperson for the Migration Department, stated that, at the request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of the Interior decided to add the oligarchs to the list of persona non grata, after which the agency immediately entered them into the relevant registry.

Source: LRT.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pardoned French citizen Martin Ryan, who had been sentenced in the country to 10 years in prison on charges of espionage. The decision was made the day after the EU removed Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov from its sanctions list, and diplomats link these events to agreements regarding the release of French citizens.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga criticized the EU’s decision to remove Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Friedman from the sanctions list. He called the decision shameful and urged EU countries to impose their own national sanctions against them.