Switzerland has removed Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from its sanctions list, following a similar decision by the European Union. The changes took effect at 11pm on 4 November, EU Today reported.

Switzerland's Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research approved the removal of six individuals and one company on 3 November. Alongside Usmanov and Fridman, those delisted include Andrey Falaleev, a former rector of a university in Crimea, and Redbird Corporate Services Ltd. The decision removes the Swiss asset freezes and related restrictions that had applied to them under the sanctions regime.

The move follows the European Union's removal of both businessmen from its sanctions register on 22 September. Their delisting formed part of a broader political compromise that allowed the remaining EU sanctions against around 3,000 Russian individuals and entities to be extended for three years, until September 2029, replacing the previous practice of renewing the restrictions every six months.

The EU originally imposed restrictions on Usmanov and Fridman in February 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Switzerland sanctioned Usmanov on 4 March 2022, following the EU's lead, and is now falling in line with Brussels again. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union and decides independently which foreign sanctions to adopt under its own Embargo Act.

At the same time, Switzerland moved in the opposite direction on the wider sanctions regime, adopting the EU's 21st sanctions package against Russia and Belarus. The Federal Council imposed asset freezes on another 254 individuals, companies and organisations, with the new sectoral measures entering into force on 5 November.

Fridman, a co-founder of Alfa Group, has pursued an arbitration claim seeking approximately $16 billion in compensation over losses he says resulted from sanctions, a dispute that involves Luxembourg. The Swiss delistings do not end the broader sanctions framework: thousands of individuals and entities remain listed, and the two men remain subject to restrictions in other jurisdictions.