Estonia says France must explain push to lift EU sanctions on Usmanov

France should explain itself after it pushed for the lifting of EU sanctions on Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, Estonia's foreign minister said on Tuesday, describing the move as sending the wrong signal at the wrong time.



European Union envoys agreed on Tuesday to drop two high-profile billionaires, Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, from the EU's Russian sanctions list in a compromise deal to renew sanctions on roughly 3,000 other listed individuals and entities.



Earlier this month, France shocked other EU members when it pushed for Russian-Uzbek metals tycoon Usmanov to be removed from EU sanctions, citing national security concerns.



"One country put a very strong position on the table that these two people must be delisted, otherwise we're actually losing the sanctions regime," Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. "This is a totally wrong message."



"They need to explain themselves. There was no deep explanation," he said.