French national Martin Ryan has been pardoned and released from prison by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev following his conviction on espionage charges, which both Ryan and France denied. The release came hours after the European Union agreed to lift sanctions on two Russian billionaires, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, an apparent coincidence that has sparked significant controversy and strong criticism from Ukraine.

Ryan was detained in December 2023 and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in March 2024 on charges of cooperating with French security service employees to gather intelligence in Baku; he maintained his innocence throughout. The two oligarchs had been under EU sanctions since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with France pushing for Usmanov's sanctions to be lifted on national security grounds. Ryan was one of 20 people pardoned by Aliyev, though a second Frenchman, Anass Derraz, remains imprisoned. Ukraine's Foreign Minister condemned the EU's decision as sending the "wrong signal" whilst Russia grows more aggressive, and Latvia opposed the move before deciding to abstain and impose its own measures on the two oligarchs instead.