Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev French citizen Martin Ryan on September 23, one day after the European Union removed Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from its sanctions list.

Ryan, who was serving a 10-year prison sentence for espionage, was among 20 people included in Aliyev’s pardon decree. He was detained in Azerbaijan in December 2023 and sentenced by the Baku Court of Grave Crimes in March 2026. Azerbaijani authorities accused him of gathering military and other information for France’s foreign intelligence service. France rejected the charges and called for his release.

The timing of the pardon has drawn attention because of the EU’s decision on September 22 to remove Usmanov and Fridman from the bloc’s restrictive measures targeting those responsible for undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The remaining sanctions were extended for three years, until September 2029. The legal act formally removing Usmanov and Fridman was published by the EU.

French officials had reportedly pressed within the EU for Usmanov to be removed from the sanctions list. Reports by the Financial Times, Reuters and Euronews the French position to negotiations over French nationals detained in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan had for Usmanov’s removal from Western sanctions lists, portraying him as a philanthropist who had contributed to ties between Central Asia, the West and the Turkic world. European diplomats, however, connected Baku’s interest in the matter to the negotiations over the detainees, a claim by Azerbaijan.

France Ryan’s pardon. The French Foreign Ministry described the decision as a humanitarian gesture and said it followed sustained dialogue with the Azerbaijani authorities. Paris also framed the development as a step towards normalising relations with Baku.

The pardon came on the same day Bayramov met French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Their meeting covered bilateral relations, Azerbaijan-EU ties and regional security.

Relations between Azerbaijan and France have been strained in recent years, particularly over France’s position on Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Baku has also accused Paris of taking steps that undermine Azerbaijan’s regional position, while France has criticised the treatment of French nationals detained in Azerbaijan.

Ryan’s release removes one of the most prominent recent points of tension between the two governments. The circumstances surrounding the EU’s decision on Usmanov are likely to keep the focus on the relationship between Baku, Paris, and Brussels.