Author: Press Room

The European Union has agreed to remove Uzbek-Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov from its sanctions list after fraught negotiations that saw France link his delisting to a prisoner release with Azerbaijan, unsettling Brussels. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT A second Russian oligarch, Mikhail Fridman, was also removed after Slovakia vetoed his continued listing, several diplomats told Euronews. Luxembourg had argued that if Usmanov was removed, Fridman should be too. Fridman has filed a $16 billion claim against Luxembourg over his frozen assets. Ambassadors sealed the compromise on Tuesday afternoon after two weeks of drawn-out talks that brought the bloc’s sanctions regime to the brink…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 13:46 GMT+2•Updated 14:01 Soldiers returning from the front line in Ukraine are bringing back weapons and military equipment, raising concerns that battlefield components could start circulating within the European Union, according to a confidential EU document seen by Euronews. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The risk of firearms being diverted from the battlefield will be discussed by EU ambassadors on Wednesday, as European authorities step up efforts to track weapons entering the bloc. “Member states have reported weapon components and military equipment in the possession of returning combatants,” reads the EU Council document, which focuses on the war in…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 14:50 GMT+2•Updated 15:00 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly called on the European Union and its member states to keep oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman under sanctions, as talks on renewing the blacklist enter their final stages in Brussels. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The entire list will expire if ambassadors fail to find a deal by the end of Tuesday. “The world needs not a political delisting, but timely and unconditional rollover of individual sanctions, until Moscow engages in serious peace negotiations and takes concrete steps to end its war against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 11:54 GMT+2•Updated 12:00 The European Commission struck a trade agreement with the Philippines on Tuesday, stepping up its diversification strategy across the Indo-Pacific region. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The deal comes more than a year after the US introduced sweeping new tariffs on many of its trading partners, prompting retaliatory measures and adding to global trade tensions. Since then, the EU has been seeking new trade ties, recently concluding major deals with India, Australia and Indonesia. “This agreement sends a clear signal that the EU is reinforcing its engagement with the Indo-Pacific,” EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 12:32 GMT+2•Updated 12:51 European People’s Party leader Manfred Weber warned that Morocco could face “obvious consequences” if the border with the Spanish exclave of Ceuta could not be stabilised, raising the prospect of further “uncontrolled situations” following the arrival of around 80,000 irregular migrants at the end of July. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Weber was the first senior EU figure to visit Ceuta since the crisis erupted, travelling alongside Spanish opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas. The visit came amid growing public discontent and mounting pressure on Sánchez’s government over the presence of…

Russia bombarded at least four Ukrainian regions overnight with missiles and drones, killing four people, officials said on Tuesday, and Ukraine’s forces damaged another Russian oil refinery in their latest long-range strike. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The ongoing exchange of daily aerial attacks, while positions on the battlefield’s front line barely change, provided a backdrop to the visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the United States. Zelenskyy was due to meet other world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, at the UN General Assembly in New York. Zelenskyy is hoping to recruit their help to end Russia’s more than four-year full-scale…

The EU has to “find the adequate resources” to fund “innovative” solutions to the bloc’s migration challenges, such as offshore migrant return hubs, Greece’s deputy foreign minister Tasos Chatzivasileiou has told Europe Today. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “If we decide to implement any innovative ideas (for migration), that means that Europe has to find the adequate resources,” Chatzivasileiou said, adding that the EU’s next long-term budget, currently under negotiation, could “provide a solution to the problem”. His call comes as Greece and four other EU countries – Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands – look to speed up plans to set up…

Vsevolod Chentsov, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, said Russia must take “real, concrete” steps towards peace before the European Union considers “any easing of sanctions”. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “We expect the EU to maintain unity,” Chentsov insisted after France pushed for Uzbek-Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov to be removed from the sanctions list as part of efforts to secure the release of two French nationals imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Chentsov said he was “optimistic” about the…

Published on 22/09/2026 – 8:41 GMT+2•Updated 8:45 Latvia has opposed the removal of Uzbek-Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov from the European Union’s sanctions list, blocking a compromise deal favoured by France. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “As long as Russia continues the war, Europe’s pressure must become stronger, not more convenient for the Kremlin,” Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs saidin a video published on Monday just before midnight. France has linked Usmanov’s removal to the release of two French nationals currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan, angering other member states. Uzbekistan, the country where Usmanov was born, is said to have facilitated the arrangement. Slovakia has…

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews. With AI, Europe has within its reach the biggest productivity opportunity the world has seen since computers and the internet. Much of Europe missed that last wave. It cannot afford to miss this one. It is a chance to break out of decades of sluggish growth and meet the costs of an ageing society. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT That is if it makes the right decisions, makes them quickly, and manages the risks without giving up the upside. It…