Zelenskyy called lifting of EU sanctions against Usmanov and Fridman mistake
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the European Union’s decision to remove Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Friedman from the sanctions list was a mistake.
According to Censor.NET, citing Suspilne, the head of state made this statement during a briefing in New York.
According to the president, Ukraine needs the EU and the U.S. to further intensify sanctions pressure on Russia. Zelenskyy stressed that there should be no compromises when it comes to sanctions against Russia.
"Sanctions are needed from the European Union. I think there was a mistake. They removed two oligarchs from the list," Zelenskyy said.
According to him, he understands that EU countries made a compromise in order to agree on extending the sanctions, but he believes this approach toward Russia is wrong.
"I believe that there can be no compromise with Russia in this case," the president said.
At the same time, Zelenskyy noted that the European Union had extended sanctions against nearly 3,000 individuals and organizations for a full three years. In his view, this will allow the restrictions to remain in place even if the political situation in certain EU member states changes.
What is known about the lifting of sanctions
The EU extended the restrictive measures against individuals responsible for undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine for 36 months, but removed Russian oligarchs Usmanov and Friedman from the sanctions list.
Lithuania initiated the imposition of national sanctions against Russian oligarchs Usmanov and Friedman after they were removed from the EU sanctions list.
Latvia will also impose national sanctions against Russian oligarchs Usmanov and Friedman after it relented and lifted its veto on their removal from the EU sanctions list.
