EU envoys renew sanctions on Russian individuals, entities
The European Union agreed on Friday to renew sanctions on Russian individuals and entities but kept Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman on the list despite pressure from Hungary, EU diplomats said.
EU sanctions must be renewed every six months in a unanimous vote by the 27 member states' ambassadors to Brussels. The deadline for renewal was Saturday and the list has now been renewed until September 15.
Hungary, which has maintained cordial ties with Moscow despite the Ukraine war, had threatened to block the renewal unless certain individuals were delisted.
Two diplomats said Budapest had initially asked for nine names to be removed from the list, including Fridman's, but the other envoys managed to reduce the number to three Russians.
They are Gulbakhor Ismailova, who is the sister of prominent businessman Alisher Usmanov, businessman Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor and Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev.
A fourth, businessman Vladimir Rashevsky, was removed due to a weak legal case rather than pressure from Budapest.
Three others were removed from the list because they have died.
The EU has more than 2,400 individuals and entities on its Russia sanctions list.
Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LBCI
5 hours ago
- LBCI
EU delegation tells LBCI Lebanon's high-risk listing tied to FATF, not current government performance
The European Union delegation to Lebanon confirmed to LBCI that the European Commission's decision to place Lebanon on the list of high-risk countries in the field of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) is based on a decision made in October 2024, following Lebanon's inclusion on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list. The delegation clarified that this decision is now being formally enacted and does not reflect the performance of the current Lebanese government, whether in terms of progress on reforms or shortcomings.
MTV Lebanon
7 hours ago
- MTV Lebanon
11 Jun 2025 16:31 PM EU urges Israel to cancel move to cut off Palestinian banks
The EU has urged Israel to abandon Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's plan to revoke a waiver that enables Israeli banks to work with Palestinian counterparts – a move that could effectively cripple the Palestinian financial system 'The European Union is deeply concerned by the instruction by Israel's finance minister Smotrich to cancel the waiver on cooperation with Palestinian banks, which could cut them off from the Israeli financial system, devastate an already crippled Palestinian economy, and may lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority,' EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said. 'The EU calls on Israel to revert this decision immediately and to refrain from any action that could lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.'
Al Manar
9 hours ago
- Al Manar
Israeli Knesset Set to Vote on Disbanding in First Step to Possible Election
Israeli parliament is set to hold a preliminary vote on Wednesday to dissolve itself following a dispute over conscription, a first step that could lead to an early election, which polls show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would lose. The vote could still be pulled at the last minute, and even if it goes against Netanyahu, it would only be the first of four needed to bring forward elections. This would give Netanyahu's ruling coalition further time to resolve its worst political crisis yet and avoid a ballot, which would be Israel's first since the start of the war on Gaza. Dissolving the Knesset would only be a victory for Israel's enemies, said Boaz Bismuth, a lawmaker with Netanyahu's Likud party. 'During war this is the last thing Israel needs,' he told Reuters. Netanyahu has been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis. Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether. Ultra-Orthodox religious leaders, however, see full-time devotion to religious studies as sacrosanct and military service as a threat to the students' strict religious lifestyle The exemptions have been a hot-button issue in Israel for years but have become particularly contentious during the war in Gaza, as Israel has suffered its highest battlefield casualties in decades and its stretched military is in need of more troops. Growing increasingly impatient with the political deadlock, ultra-Orthodox coalition factions have said they will vote with opposition parties in favor of dissolving the Knesset and bringing forward an election that is not due until late 2026. 'It's more than ever urgent to replace Netanyahu's government and specifically this toxic and harmful government,' said Labor's opposition lawmaker Merav Michaeli. 'It's urgent to end the war in Gaza and to bring back all the hostages. It's urgent to start rebuilding and healing the state of Israel.' Opposition parties are likely to withdraw the dissolution bill if Netanyahu's coalition resolves the crisis before the vote is held much later on Wednesday. But even if it passes Wednesday's reading, the bill's final approval requires three more votes, giving Netanyahu's coalition more time to come to agreements over conscription. If passed, the dissolution bill will next go to parliament committee discussions in between readings, a legislation process which could take days, weeks or months. In this time, Netanyahu could still reach agreements with the ultra-Orthodox parties, his key political allies, and shoot the bill down. To pass the final reading, the bill would need an absolute majority of at least 61 votes in the 120-seat parliament, called the Knesset in Hebrew, and an election will have to be held within five months. Successive polls have predicted that Netanyahu's coalition would lose in an election, with Israelis still reeling over the security failure of Palestinian group Hamas' October 7 2023 attack and hostages still held in Gaza. Hamas' surprise attack led to Israeli deadliest single day and shattered Netanyahu's security credentials, with 1,200 people killed and 251 hostages taken into Gaza. Israeli war on Gaza has since killed almost 55,000 Palestinians, left much of the territory in ruins, and its more than two million population largely displaced and gripped by a humanitarian crisis.
