Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on Wednesday pardoning French citizen Marten Ryan, who had been imprisoned since 2023 on charges of espionage. According to the published decree, 20 individuals received pardons. The document states that the decision was made taking into account the personalities of the convicted, their health conditions, family circumstances, and other factors. The release of the French citizen occurred a day after European Union countries reached a compromise on extending sanctions against Russia. On Tuesday, EU states agreed to extend restrictive measures against thousands of Russian individuals and legal entities for another three years. At the same time, Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman were removed from the sanctions list. According to media reports, negotiations surrounding the sanctions package were challenging. As reported by the Financial Times, France sought the removal of Usmanov from the sanctions list, hoping to facilitate the release of several French citizens held in Azerbaijan. Following this, Luxembourg advocated for lifting sanctions on Mikhail Fridman. Ultimately, ambassadors from EU countries managed to agree on a compromise after two weeks of negotiations. At the final stage of discussions, the process was temporarily blocked due to objections from Latvia. However, on Tuesday, the Latvian side changed its position and opted for constructive abstention, allowing for a unanimous decision. Thus, the EU maintained the sanctions regime against the majority of Russian individuals and legal entities while simultaneously removing two businessmen from the list. Immediately after this agreement was reached, the President of Azerbaijan signed a decree pardoning the French citizen. Although Baku did not officially link the pardon to the EU's decision, both events occurred almost simultaneously and became part of the diplomatic efforts that preceded the agreement among EU countries.
