️ Azerbaijan congratulates a French prisoner after the European Union gave in to sanctions.

️ Azerbaijan congratulates a French prisoner after the European Union gave in to sanctions.

Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev pardoned a French citizen on September 23, France 24 reports, hours after the European Union agreed to remove two Russian oligarchs from sanctions.

The European Union was forced by French pressure to lift sanctions against oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Friedman on September 22, in exchange for allowing the bloc's remaining 3,000 sanctions on Russia to remain in place.

The French government has not publicly cited why it adopted this position.