The EU has agreed to remove two Russian billionaires, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, from its sanctions list, while extending restrictions on nearly 3,000 individuals and companies accused of supporting the war on Ukraine for the next three years, writes The Guardian.

"With an end-of-Tuesday deadline looming to preserve the Russia blacklist, the EU`s 27 member states found a compromise that meant delisting the two oligarchs in spite of very few countries wanting this outcome. EU sanctions have to be approved unanimously.

France stunned and infuriated EU governments this month when it called for Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek national, to be removed from the list on "national security" grounds, reported to refer to a prisoner exchange deal involving French nationals and Azerbaijan.

Luxembourg then asked for the same treatment for Fridman, the Russian-Israeli magnate, who is suing the Grand Duchy for $16bn (£12bn) for freezing his assets.

The exemptions angered many EU countries which believe it sets a bad precedent by allowing member states to weaken sanctions in defence of national interests.

Ukraine criticised the removal of the men from the sanctions list as unacceptable. Shortly after the decision emerged, Ukraine`s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrote on social media: "No name on the sanctions list is there by accident: each one represents a reason why this war started and continues to this day".