Azerbaijan pardons French national after EU drops sanctions on Usmanov

By Nailia Bagirova

BAKU, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Azerbaijani President Ilham ‌Aliyev pardoned a French national ​jailed for ​espionage on Wednesday, a day after the EU lifted sanctions on Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov following what diplomats said was pressure from Baku.

The Frenchman, Martin Ryan, had been serving a 10-year prison sentence in Baku following a spying conviction in March. It ‌was not immediately clear whether he had been released.

Three European diplomats told Reuters that Paris had privately indicated that ⁠Baku was using Usmanov's sanctions case to pressure France over two French citizens held in Azerbaijan.

French weekly Challenges identified the second jailed French national as Anass Derraz, an employee of ‌French water management company Saur. Derraz, who ‌was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2025 on corruption charges, was not on the list of pardoned prisoners on Wednesday.

An Azerbaijani diplomat last week rejected suggestions of a pressure campaign as "categorically unfounded", saying Baku had openly supported Usmanov's removal from Western sanctions lists because it ​viewed the measures against him as unjust.

Relations between Baku and Paris have long been strained by France's support for Armenia, Azerbaijan's historic rival. Ties between Azerbaijan and Russia have also deteriorated since the accidental downing of an Azerbaijani passenger jet by Russian forces in December 2024.

SANCTIONS DELISTING ⁠CAUSED RIFT IN EU

The delisting of Usmanov and fellow Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman was the first time the EU removed sanctions on the wealthiest members of Russia's billionaire elite who had not ​publicly condemned the war in Ukraine.

The decision exposed divisions among EU governments that had hoped a recent change of government in Hungary would help forge a more united stance towards Moscow after years in which former Prime ​Minister Viktor Orban complicated efforts to renew sanctions and support Ukraine.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ‌told a press conference in New York after meeting US President Donald Trump that the lifting of EU sanctions was a result of Russia's work to break the West's unity in supporting Ukraine.

"Maybe these two oligarchs are now ⁠very happy. But they do not know us, they do not know me. I come with the same surnames to Europe again," Zelenskiy said.

The EU imposed sanctions on Fridman, who was born in Soviet Ukraine, and Usmanov, born in Uzbekistan, in 2022, after Russia sent its troops into Ukraine, including travel and transaction bans and asset ⁠freezes within the bloc.

Both men made their fortunes following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and later on created their business empires with Fridman focusing ​on oil and banking and Usmanov on metals and telecoms.

Since the start of the war, Fridman, who holds an Israeli passport, mostly stayed out of Russia, while Usmanov spent time between Moscow and his native Uzbekistan, wielding his influence in the post-Soviet world to help remove sanctions.

The Organization of Turkic States, which includes Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, ‌Kazakhstan and Turkey, sent letters to EU leaders and the US president calling for sanctions to be lifted.

Usmanov, who once held a minority stake in Arsenal football club, graduated from the same prestigious diplomatic school in Moscow ‌as presidents of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan and knows them in person.

Ryan, the Frenchman pardoned on Wednesday, was arrested in December 2023 and accused of gathering information about Azerbaijan's ⁠military cooperation with Turkey and Pakistan.

Before his arrest, he ‌worked in Azerbaijan for a food-import company that ​also provided consultancy services.

Aliyev's office said Ryan was pardoned alongside 14 Azerbaijani citizens, two Turkish nationals, a dual Russian-Israeli citizen and a Pakistani citizen.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Gleb Bryanski; Editing ‌by Ros Russell)

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