Estonia imposes national sanctions on Russian businessmen Usmanov, Fridman despite EU decision - Foreign Ministry

TALLINN. Sept 24 (Interfax) - Estonia has imposed its national sanctions on Russian entrepreneurs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, the Estonian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna used Estonia's digital state solutions to sign an order from New York today, September 23, imposing national sanctions on Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman," the statement said.

"Estonia did not consider it right to remove these two prominent Russian businessmen from the EU sanctions list," the statement quoted Tsahkna as saying.

On Tuesday, the EU agreed a three-year extension of sanctions on around 3,000 individuals and entities in Russia, having approved the removal of Fridman and Usmanov from the sanctions list.

Euractiv reported earlier, citing sources, that France had asked to lift sanctions on Usmanov, after which Slovakia and Luxembourg made similar requests for Fridman. In return, Paris and Bratislava agreed to extend the validity period of anti-Russian sanctions from six months to three years.