The issue of extending European Union sanctions against approximately 3,000 individuals and entities linked to support for Russian aggression in Ukraine should have been handled differently, according to Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs.
"The matter of European Union sanctions should have been handled in a way that didn't leave Latvia standing alone. Furthermore, the Baltic states should have developed a unified position," Kulbergs stated, as reported by Delfi.
According to him, all EU member states had already reached an agreement, leaving Latvia as the only country opposing the lifting of sanctions against Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman.
Kulbergs acknowledged that, to his surprise, Lithuania and Estonia had already agreed to remove these individuals from the sanction list. He emphasized that the Baltic states need to maintain a united stance and that this issue requires resolution.
"The choice was tough: either a truly bad situation or simply a bad one," the politician said. He was also surprised that Latvia's interests were effectively never a subject of discussion.
When asked whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had failed to see the matter through properly, the Prime Minister reiterated that the ministry should have coordinated Latvia's position to avoid being the last country in Europe left facing a choice: lifting sanctions on two individuals versus 2,600.
The Prime Minister noted that Latvia remained steadfast in its position and did not give its consent, yet was compelled to abstain rather than vote against the decision as a whole. On Tuesday, the Latvian government approved a decision to impose national sanctions on Usmanov and Fridman. The Cabinet of Ministers is applying financial and entry restrictions to Usmanov and Fridman, as stipulated by the Law on International and National Sanctions of Latvia.
Both Russian businessmen are required, within six weeks of the imposition of financial restrictions, to notify the Financial Intelligence Service regarding any funds and economic resources located within Latvia's jurisdiction that they own, manage, hold, or control.
As previously reported, EU ambassadors—following weeks of discussion—finally decided to extend sanctions related to the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity for three years rather than the previous six-month term; however, this decision came at the cost of excluding Usmanov and Fridman from the sanction list at the insistence of Slovakia, France, and Luxembourg.
Ukraine imposed personal sanctions against Russian oligarchs Usmanov and Fridman on October 19, 2022. As the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy noted at the time, sanctions were imposed that day on 256 individuals—oligarchs from the Forbes list and their associates. The list included Fridman’s Alfa-Group partners Petr Aven, German Khan, and Alexei Kuzmichev, as well as Vladimir Lisin, Leonid Mikhelson, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, Mikhail Prokhorov, Suleiman Kerimov, Elena Baturina, Yuri Kovalchuk, and others.
In the summer of 2023, Ukraine nationalized Sense Bank (formerly Alfa-Bank), a significant asset held by Fridman and his partners. In 2022, pursuant to a court decision, ARMA also assumed management of the corporate rights and other assets of IDS Ukraine—a group linked to Fridman and the country's largest producer and distributor of mineral water.
In September 2024, Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit with the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) seeking the forfeiture to the state of IDS Ukraine’s assets and other Ukrainian assets linked to Fridman. Specifically, the suit concerned shares and equity stakes in the Myrhorod Mineral Water Plant, the Morshyn Mineral Water Plant Oskar, Industrial and Distribution Systems, Alfa Insurance, and Alfa-Leasing Ukraine. Hearings on this case are ongoing.
Regarding the Ukrainian assets of Usmanov and his business partners—the Skoch family and Streshinsky—the HACC had already ruled in 2024, following a Ministry of Justice lawsuit, to forfeit them to the state. According to Inna Bahatykh, the then-Deputy Minister of Justice, these assets include over 165,000 tonnes of iron ore products with an estimated value exceeding UAH 2 billion, as well as 100% of the authorized capital of Peter-Service Ukraine LLC, an IT company previously controlled by Usmanov.
