Hungary and Slovakia are once again asking the European Union to lift asset freezes and visa bans for six Russian businessmen to extend a number of already existing sanctions against Russia. This was reported by RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, informs UNN.
Details
It is noted that sanctions, which currently cover more than 2,660 individuals and legal entities, must be extended by a unanimous decision of EU member states every six months, usually in mid-March and mid-September. The list includes, in particular, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
In Brussels, Hungary, and more recently Slovakia, have used their veto power to exclude some of the most prominent names. Both Central European countries have close political relations with the Kremlin and argue that EU sanctions have hit the European economy harder than the Russian one.
The media reminds that in March, Russian businessman Vyacheslav Moshe Kantor, Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev, and Gulbakhor Ismailova, sister of billionaire magnate Alisher Usmanov, were excluded from the blacklist after weeks of painstaking diplomatic negotiations between European officials.
Last year, Arkady Volozh, co-founder of the Russian internet giant "Yandex", Russian businessman Sergey Mndoyants, Jozef Hambalek, a Slovak citizen and head of the Russian nationalist motorcycle club "Night Wolves" in Europe, and Violetta Prigozhina, mother of the late Russian businessman and leader of the "Wagner" mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin, were similarly excluded.
According to several unnamed EU diplomats, this time Slovakia wants to exclude Usmanov, as well as businessman Mikhail Fridman, from the sanctions list. At the same time, Hungary insists on excluding oligarchs Dmitry Mazepin, Petr Aven, Musa Bazhaev, and Albert Avdolyan from the list.
"Other EU member states have proposed an alternative solution: the exclusion of only one or two so-called "weak cases", i.e., individuals who would most likely be excluded from the list anyway, as they were sanctioned based on weak evidence," the publication writes.
Recall
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new package of sanctions against Russia, which is planned to be adopted in September 2025.