As a Tuesday deadline pressed upon the European Union, the bloc's fragile unanimity cracked under the weight of competing national interests, forcing a compromise that most member states privately opposed: two Russian billionaires, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, were quietly removed from the sanctions list so that nearly 3,000 others could remain on it. France and Luxembourg, each pursuing distinct national calculations, wielded the veto power that EU consensus demands, turning a collective instrument of accountability into a bargaining chip. The episode reveals a deeper tension at the h