European Union diplomats said the EU agreed on Friday to renew sanctions on Russian individuals and entities but kept Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman on the list despite pressure from Hungary.
It was gathered that EU sanctions must be renewed every six months in a unanimous vote by the 27 member states’ ambassadors to Brussels.
The deadline for renewal was Saturday and the list has now been renewed until September 15.
Hungary, which has reportedly maintained cordial ties with Moscow despite the Ukraine war, had threatened to block the renewal unless certain individuals were delisted.
Two diplomats said Budapest, the capital of Hungary had initially asked for nine names to be removed from the list, including Fridman’s, but the other envoys managed to reduce the number to three Russians.
They are Gulbakhor Ismailova, who is the sister of prominent businessman Alisher Usmanov, businessman Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor and Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev.
A fourth, businessman Vladimir Rashevsky, was removed due to a weak legal case rather than pressure from Budapest.
Newspot reports that the EU has more than 2,400 individuals and entities on its Russia sanctions list.
