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Azerbaijan, Europe, France, Kazakhstan
Usmanov delisted, Latvia's nuclear status confirmed, a pardon: France's intense diplomatic bartering revealed

LogoSubscribers only By Pierre Gastineau
5 min read Lire en français
French President Emmanuel Macron walks past (L-R), Bosnia and Herzegovina's chairman of the Presidency Zeljko Komsic, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker at the European Political Community Summit in Copenhagen, on 2 October 2025.
French President Emmanuel Macron walks past (L-R), Bosnia and Herzegovina's chairman of the Presidency Zeljko Komsic, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker at the European Political Community Summit in Copenhagen, on 2 October 2025. © Ludovic Marin/AFP

A fierce diplomatic battle waged by Paris behind the scenes has resulted in the pardon of the French citizen imprisoned in Baku and the lifting of sanctions against Russian-Uzbek businessman Alisher Usmanov. But France's intense lobbying has created divisions and revealed posturing at the heart of the EU, and also within French diplomacy. Intelligence Online has the story.

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