Hungary has threatened to veto the extension of the European sanction regime against approximately 2,000 Russians. In a bid to appease Budapest, EU Member States agreed on Friday to drop sanctions against numerous Russian businessmen.
The decision was confirmed by several diplomats following discussions among the ambassadors of the 27 EU Member States.
In exchange for an agreement, Hungary wanted nine Russians removed from the list, including oligarch Mikhail Fridman. While Fridman’s name remains, the names of four other Russians have been removed, numerous media outlets report, citing diplomats close the negotiations.
These include Russian businessman Viatcheslav Kantor, former president of the European Jewish Congress; Vladimir Rashevsky, banker and former chemical company boss; Gulbakhor Ismailova, sister of Uzbek-Russian mining tycoon Alisher Usmanov; and Russian Sports Minister and Olympics official Mikhail Degtyarov.
According to several media outlets, oligarch Usmanov's sister, Gulbahor Ismailova, owns some of his foreign assets, and Vyacheslav Kantor is considered a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin.
Degtyarov is a member of the Russia's ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party and has previously called on citizens to join Russia's war against Ukraine. He has been subject to EU sanctions since 2014 for violating the sovereignty of Ukraine.
Additionally, three now-deceased Russians have also been delisted. The European sanctions list still includes over 2,000 names accused of supporting Russia’s war effort against Ukraine.
The sanctions list must be renewed every six months with unanimous agreement from all 27 member states. This renewal was accompanied by difficult discussions with Budapest, which has often defended a pro-Russian stance.
The agreement was reached at the last minute, as the sanctions were set to expire on Saturday.
