Brussels – Hungary’s pro-Russian premier, Viktor Orbán, came very close to blocking the periodic renewal of European restrictive measures affecting nearly 2,000 individuals and some 500 entities as part of Russia’s war in Ukraine. At the last minute, the other 26 member countries convinced him – agreeing to remove three oligarchs and Moscow’s sports minister from the list – and reached the unanimity needed to reaffirm the sanctions. Most importantly, they ensured the retention of private assets worth 25 billion euros frozen by the EU during the three-year war.
The names of the 1927 individuals Brussels identified as being responsible for the Russian war effort and violence committed in Ukraine – as well as the approximately 500 entities – must be confirmed every six months. After the last renewal in September, the new deadline was Saturday, March 15. Yesterday, Budapest confirmed its opposition. According to EU sources, Orbán set the removal of nine names as a condition for lifting his veto. This morning, at the last possible meeting of the ambassadors of the 27 member states, the Polish presidency of the EU Council managed to find a compromise: Hungary stepped aside in exchange for removing four people from the list and three recently deceased.
Diplomatic sources confirm that they are the oligarch Vyacheslav Kantor, businessman Vladimir Rashevsky, Gulbakhor Ismailova, sister of businessman Alisher Usmanov, and the Russian Federation’s sports minister, Mikhail Degtyarev. The three deceased removed from the list are veteran Russian politician Nikolai Ryzhkov and military officers Andrei Ermishko and Aleksei Bolshakov. Restrictive measures remain against Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch billionaire Mikhail Fridman, whom Hungary insisted on removing from the list.
“The EU is increasing the pressure on Russia. We are extending our sanctions to some 2,400 individuals and entities because of Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in a post on X. Actually, what stands out is the increasing frequency and force with which Budapest undermines EU support for Ukraine and the unity of the 27 member states. It is not the first time that Orbán has questioned restrictive measures against Russia: in January, he had threatened at length – only to relent at the last minute in exchange for a vague declaration on guarantees of gas supplies through Ukraine – to block all sectoral sanctions, the ones that allowed Brussels to freeze €200 billion of Russian assets, impose bans on imports and exports, and cut Moscow off from Western financial circuits. In total, from February 2022 to the present, Brussels adopted 16 sanctions packages against Russia and its allies as part of the war in Ukraine.
The EU restrictive measures against those responsible for “undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine” apply to over 2,400 individuals and entities and consist — as far as individuals are concerned — of travel bans and freezing assets on EU territory, while against entities the freezing of asset. The list includes from President Vladimir Putin to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, members of the Russian Duma, the National Security Council, and the Council of the Russian Federation, ministers, governors, and local politicians such as the mayor of Moscow, high-ranking officials, and military personnel, commanders of the Wagner Group, business people, and prominent oligarchs. Individuals from Iran, Belarus, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are also on the list. Political parties, armed forces, and paramilitary groups, banks and financial institutions, media organizations responsible for propaganda and disinformation, companies in the defense, transportation, energy, and IT sectors, companies involved in sanctions evasion are also on the blacklist, as are organizations responsible for reeducation and deportation programs for Ukrainian children.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
