Azerbaijan pardoned a French citizen convicted of espionage, one day after the European Union lifted sanctions against Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, in a coincidence that fueled suspicions of possible pressure from Baku on Paris.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev granted the pardon on Wednesday to Martin Ryan, who was serving a 10-year prison sentence in Baku after being found guilty of espionage in March. Ryan had been detained in December 2023 and accused of gathering information on Azerbaijan's military cooperation with Turkey and Pakistan. It was not immediately clear if the pardon meant his immediate release.
The decision came just 24 hours after the European Union removed Usmanov from its sanctions list against individuals linked to Russia. Three European diplomats mentioned that Paris had privately indicated that Azerbaijan was using the case of the Russian businessman to pressure France due to the detention of two French citizens on Azerbaijani territory.
The president of Azerbaijan granted a surprise pardon to a French citizen who was serving a 10-year sentence for espionage
The accusation points to a possible connection between two diplomatic issues that, officially, have not been linked by any of the governments involved. An Azerbaijani diplomat rejected last week the suggestions that Baku was conducting a pressure campaign and labeled those claims as ''categorically unfounded''.
According to Azerbaijan's position, the government had publicly defended the removal of Usmanov from the sanctions regime because it considers the measures taken against the Russian businessman to be unjust. Baku's support for the billionaire had been expressed prior to the EU's decision.
The case of Ryan is also related to another French citizen imprisoned in Azerbaijan. A French magazine identified the second detainee as Anass Derraz, an employee of the French water management company Saur. Derraz was sentenced in 2025 to 12 years in prison on corruption charges and was not among the prisoners pardoned this Wednesday.
Usmanov maintains strong ties with historical post-Soviet leaders and the Azerbaijani government defended his removal from the sanctions list
The EU's decision regarding Usmanov and another Russian billionaire, Mikhail Fridman, also generated divisions within the European bloc. Both had been sanctioned in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, through travel restrictions, transactions, and asset freezes in EU territory.
The lifting of sanctions against both businessmen represented a significant shift in EU policy towards members of the Russian business elite who had not publicly condemned the war in Ukraine. However, the bloc maintained sanctions against thousands of individuals and entities linked to Russia.
Usmanov, born in Uzbekistan, built his fortune in sectors such as metals and telecommunications and once held a minority stake in the Arsenal football club. He also maintains ties with leaders in the post-Soviet space. The Organization of Turkic States, composed of countries such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkey, had sent letters to European leaders and the U.S. president requesting the lifting of sanctions against the businessman.
Zelensky expressed his frustration with the European Union's decision and stated that Russia achieved its goal of creating divisions within the European community
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, questioned the European decision and stated that Russia had managed to exploit divisions within the West to weaken the sanctions regime. Kiev had advocated for the continuation of restrictions against Russian businessmen.
The relationship between France and Azerbaijan was already experiencing a period of tension due, among other factors, to Paris's political support for Armenia, Azerbaijan's historical rival. Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia also deteriorated after Russian forces accidentally shot down an Azerbaijani passenger plane in December 2024.
