EU's Russia sanctions risk lapsing at midnight, France wants two oligarchs delisted

EU ambassadors failed to agree on Monday to renew sanctions on nearly 3,000 Russia-linked people and entities, and will reconvene at 8am on Tuesday, hours before the measures expire at midnight. France, backed by Slovakia, is demanding oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman be delisted in exchange for a 36-month extension for everyone else; diplomats tell Reuters that Paris is acting under pressure from Azerbaijan, which holds at least two French nationals in detention. By Monday evening every government but Latvia had accepted that compromise; Latvia alone is refusing it, demanding the sanctions be strengthened rather than eased.

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