Sanctions showdown leaves a bad taste as Latvia cautions against 'normalising' Russia

Sanctions showdown leaves a bad taste as Latvia cautions against normalising Russia

David vs Goliath: Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs has criticised the EU for “cherry-picking” sanctions on Moscow in a move he says “normalises Russia”, after his small Baltic nation showed its teeth yesterday while opposing a push to remove two oligarchs from the EU’s blacklist. Reminder: EU heavyweight France had stunned EU diplomats by pushing to remove Uzbek-Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov from the sanctions list as part of a prisoner release deal with Azerbaijan. Slovakia had also been lobbying to remove a second businessman, Mikhail Fridman, from the list.

Latvia fiercely opposed the move hours before a looming deadline on the sanctions’ renewal yesterday. The Baltic nation finally allowed both men to be delisted to avoid torpedoing the entire deal, which was needed to renew sanctions on some 2,600 individuals. My colleague Jorge Liboreiro has the details. Speaking exclusively to my colleague Angela Skujins, Prime Minister Kulbergs said he had eventually dropped his opposition because “we all understood it is not worth risking” the whole EU sanctions package.

Sending the wrong message: “I’m worried about the playbook which it leaves,” Kulbergs cautioned, however, adding: “This is normalising Russia.” Watch.

Energy security and green transition updates

Low energy: Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Brussels to take emergency steps to boost Europe’s diesel and jet fuel supply, according to a letter seen by Euronews’ energy reporter Marta Pacheco. The communiqué comes as the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz and renewed attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East threaten to further tighten global oil markets.

“In recent weeks, international supply has deteriorated once again, driven by the combined impact of the targeting of energy infrastructure — in Russia and the Middle East — and the recovery of consumption in Asia,” reads the letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and sent on 18 September. The EU executive in Brussels acknowledged yesterday it had received the letter, but stayed silent on which measures it would be tabling.

EU holds firm on Chinese power inverter phase-out: Meanwhile, the Commission will not extend its 1 November deadline for phasing out Chinese-made power inverters from EU-funded energy projects, despite calls from investors and the renewable energy industry for more time, my colleague Luca Bertuzzi writes this morning. Industry groups and institutional investors had hoped Brussels would delay the deadline amid concerns over the availability and cost of alternatives. But EU officials told Euronews the Commission intends to stick to its timetable.

Global diplomacy and territorial agreements

Today in New York: European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica is set to announce the signing of two recovery projects for Gaza worth a total of $50 million (€43.7 million), my colleague Eleonora Vasques reports. The announcement will be made on the margins of the UN General Assembly. UN agencies will implement the projects to provide essential services in the Strip.

Greenland deal: Meanwhile in New York on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Greenland PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen signed a deal allowing the US to expand its military presence on Greenland through the modernisation and enlargement of its current Pituffik Space Base and the establishment of new defence areas at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig. ‘Win-win-win’: The deal has been described as a win for all sides, and a crucial step in assuaging trans-Atlantic tensions that flared in the wake of Trump’s threats to annex the Arctic island.

Border concerns and institutional warnings

Morocco elects: Some 15.8 million registered voters are expected to head to the polls today to elect Morocco’s new parliament. This is the first political contest in the North African kingdom since locals protested against corruption in 2025.

Exclusive: EU countries sound alarm over weapons brought back from Ukraine front line. 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. 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.

More from our newsrooms: ECB calls for tougher EU crypto rules and wider ban on stablecoin interest. Europe's central banks want the EU's crypto rules tightened, calling for a wider ban on interest payments on stablecoins, new powers to curb tokens pegged to foreign currencies such as the US dollar, and EU-level supervision of crypto firms.