EU Extends Sanctions Against Russian Oligarchs, Breaking Resistance Of Two Countries
8- 14.03.2025, 14:05
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Bloomberg has the details.
European Union member states have agreed to extend sanctions on Russians, including a number of billionaires. Hungary and Luxembourg have dropped their demands to remove Mikhail Fridman.
Bloomberg reports this.
A deal that would extend the sanctions for six months was reached after three names were removed from the list at Budapest’s request, according to people familiar with the matter.
Luxembourg stepped up last-minute pressure to remove tycoon Mikhail Fridman, but he will remain under sanctions, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Such extensions, linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have been largely routine for years, but Hungary began blocking them after U.S. President Donald Trump’s victory in November.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a pro-Russian politician who is also a close ally of Trump, created the issue by expanding sanctions against Russia earlier this year before backing down at the last minute. This time, Hungary had initially insisted on removing eight names.
Hungary had specifically demanded that Fridman be removed from the list.
Fridman is one of Russia’s most prominent businessmen, who has made billions in banking, oil and retail. He and his business partner Petr Aven won surprise victories last April at the EU’s General Court, which ruled that the EU had wrongly included them in the 2022 list. The court said it had not provided sufficient evidence of their close ties to Putin. The oligarchs’ victory was the biggest blow to the EU’s sanctions regime against Russia since the invasion.
But they remain subject to a second EU sanctions decision in 2023 over their business in Russia. Latvia has appealed the first ruling in favor of the oligarchs, while Fridman and Aven are challenging the second ruling.
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