For more than a week, France held up the EU’s entire framework of individual sanctions in support of Ukraine with its surprise campaign to drop sanctions on Usmanov, who made his fortune in mining and telecoms.  

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said last week the push to delist Usmanov was a matter of national security, but the clash put at risk the expiry of the 3,000-odd listings if the EU’s 27 countries couldn’t agree to a deal to renew them. A deal was finally reached Tuesday.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha criticized the decision to delist Usmanov and banking magnate Mikhail Fridman, calling it “shameful and unjustifiable.”

But French European Affairs Minister Benjamin Haddad called Tuesday’s outcome a win for European solidarity.

“We keep a very strong united front on the sanctions on Russia,” Haddad told POLITICO. “We have these discussions. You have consideration of national security and others among member states. But the most important is that we’ve shown once again our unity and our resolve to put economic pressure on Russia for its war of aggression.”

This developing story has been updated.