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EU envoys renew sanction against Russian individuals and entities

EU diplomats reported that the European Union renewed sanctions against Russian individuals and entities on Friday, but did not remove Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman from the list in spite of pressures from Hungary.

The EU sanctions list must be renewed by all 27 ambassadors in Brussels every six months. The list was renewed through September 15th, the deadline for renewal being Saturday.

Hungary, which maintains cordial relations with Moscow despite Ukraine's war, threatened to block renewal of the list unless certain people were removed.

Two diplomats confirmed that Budapest initially requested nine names be removed, including Fridman, but other envoys were able to reduce the list to just three Russians.

The three are Gulbakhor, the sister of prominent businessman Alisher Usmanov; Viatcheslav, Moshe Kantor, a businessman, and Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev.

The removal of a fourth person, Vladimir Rashevsky (a businessman), was due to the weakening of his legal case, rather than any pressure from Budapest.

Three other names were removed because they died.

More than 2,400 people and entities are on the EU's list of sanctions against Russia. Reporting by Julia Payne, Lili Bayer and Alison Williams; editing by Gareth Jones and Alison Williams

(source: Reuters)