Alisher Usmanov is trying to escape EU sanctions through high-ranking politicians by concealing his support for the Russian authorities.
A criminal Russian-Uzbek oligarch is trying to lift EU sanctions against himself through the leaders of Turkey, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Seeking to escape European sanctions, billionaire Alisher Usmanov is increasingly enlisting the help of high-ranking politicians as his defense attorney. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the authorities of Slovakia and Hungary are now interceding on his behalf, the Financial Times reports.
EU countries have until Sunday to extend sanctions against Russia for another six months. At the same time, the EU is considering removing the only European on the blacklist – Niels Troost, a Swiss-based Dutch businessman whose Dubai-based company traded Russian oil in violation of the price cap. Also under consideration is Russian citizen Maya Bolotova, daughter of Transneft Chairman Nikolai Tokarev. However, Hungary and Slovakia are holding up a joint decision to extend sanctions against Russia, having additionally demanded that restrictions be lifted on other individuals, including Usmanov, several EU diplomats and officials told the FT.
Erdoğan also began interceding on behalf of Usmanov, who, according to the EU sanctions justification, “actively materially supported or benefited financially from [supporting] Russian politicians responsible for Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine” and also has “particularly close ties to… Putin.” On March 2, Erdoğan wrote to Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico in a letter seen by the FT: “Given Mr. Alisher Usmanov's sincere desire to fully cooperate with EU institutions, and taking into account humanitarian considerations, I believe your support in removing him from the EU sanctions list and restoring his violated rights would be extremely valuable.”
Due to sanctions, Usmanov faces “certain difficulties” in his relations with Turkey, Erdoğan added. He called for “an end to this unfair practice against Mr. Alisher Usmanov.”
EU diplomats say Usmanov's lobbying efforts are unlikely to succeed due to the weight of the evidence used to justify his inclusion on the list. One noted:
Regardless of the Turkish president's opinion, there are reasons for imposing sanctions on certain individuals. If there are legal grounds for lifting sanctions, then yes, but if it's a political request, that's a different matter entirely.
In the case of Trost and Bolotova, the legal grounds cited appear weak, and the figures themselves “are considered less politically important,” explained another EU diplomat familiar with the matter. “In this case, we are indeed talking about the legal validity of the sanctions,” confirmed another.
