France is pushing to remove Russian-Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov from EU sanctions to secure the release of French nationals detained in Azerbaijan, prompting a one-week extension in the sanctions renewal process.

The EU remains divided on extending the sanctions package against Russia, with a plan to extend only seven days to midnight on September 22, 2026, as talks continue on contentious issues.

EU ambassadors aim to decide by September 22 whether to act on two names among about 3,000 sanctioned individuals and entities, after Slovakia and France shifted positions from near-unanimous support for renewal.

Reports have emerged of a Russia-installed catalog of Ukrainian children for coercive adoption, listing age, gender, physical traits, and even personality labels like obedience.

A separate catalog linked to regional education departments is described as organizing coerced adoptions of Ukrainian children, with similar categorization by attributes.

The businessman founded Metalloinvest, a leading Russian iron ore producer, with substantial investments in digital and telecom via USM; he also owns Kommersant and previously held significant stakes in VKontakte.

The European Commission is set to propose restricting minors’ access to social media, requiring parental approval for under-15s to open accounts on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Bring Kids Back UA continues collaborating with Ukrainian and international partners to secure safe returns of children and to strengthen international mechanisms protecting children in armed conflicts.

Baltic Infrastructure protection funding under the Connecting Europe Facility is expanding to defend energy networks and critical infrastructure in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland against sabotage and hybrid threats, including potential drone defense.

EU sanctions were first imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with multiple packages enacted since.

Smaller sanctions on 10 individuals and 17 entities for deportations of Ukrainian children are expected to be adopted on September 9, including North Korea’s Songdowon International Children’s Camp.

Investigators say Usmanov paid around 1.5 million euros in 2022 for surveillance of properties and did not declare valuable assets such as jewelry and paintings.