Nearly four years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has removed two oligarchs with documented ties to Vladimir Putin from its sanctions register — a decision shaped less by legal principle than by bilateral bargaining among member states. France secured Alisher Usmanov's delisting through national security arguments linked to prisoner exchange negotiations, while Luxembourg sought relief for Mikhail Fridman's frozen assets after litigation. The episode lays bare a quiet but consequential truth: that collective resolve, however formally maintained, can be quietly