Hungary has achieved the exclusion of four Russians from the EU sanctions list
On March 14, the European Union excluded from the sanctions lists of businessmen Vyacheslav Kantor and Vladimir Rashevsky, Minister of Sports of Russia Mikhail Degtyarev and Gulbakhor Ismailov (sister of the founder of the USM company Alisher Usmanov). At the same time, existing sanctions were extended for another six months in relation to more than 2.4 thousand people and companies from Russia and Belarus. The preservation of restrictive measures until the last moment remained in question because of Hungary, which “did not want to complicate” the negotiations of Russia and the USA.
The renewal of sanctions against more than 2.4 thousand individuals and legal entities in connection with the Ukrainian conflict representatives of the EU managed to agree in fact at the last minute. At the end of February, Hungary, which has long had a special opinion on the Ukrainian conflict and restriction policy, directly stated that she would block the extension of the EU sanctions against citizens and companies of the Russian Federation and Belarus to the next six months. As then explained by the Foreign Minister of Hungary Peter Siyyarto, Budapest “does not want to difficult” Russian-American peace negotiations. And until the evening of March 13, Hungary insisted on her own.
However, on Friday, less than 48 hours before the expiration of the extension of the sanctions – March 15, the ambassadors of the EU member states managed to unanimously extend restrictions until September 15.
However, Hungary surrendered for a reason. According to the sources of the agency Reutersit was her efforts from the list that businessman Vyacheslav Kantor, Russian Minister of Sports Mikhail Degtyarev and sister of the founder of the USM company Alisher Usmanov Gulbakhor Ismailov were seized from the list.
Mikhail Degtyarev became the highest-ranking Russian who managed to get out of sanctions.
Having become the Minister of Sports in May 2024, and in December – the President of the Olympic Committee of Russia, he announced a new strategy aimed at the “full participation of Russian athletes in all international competitions”, prohibiting “aggressive rhetoric” to international functionaries and urging them to establish contacts with them.
There are already signs that it brings results. This is also an increase in the level of “loyalty” to Russian athletes from a number of previously adhering to the tough federations, such as the International Water Sports Federation or the International Union of Hallows, and the visit of the President of the International Gymnastics Federation of Morinari Vatanabe, and the words of the president of the International Olympic Committee Tomas Bach (emphasized that the “mission The Olympic movement consists in unification ”), and sounding in the speeches of almost all seven applicants for the role of the new head of the IOC reasoning about the need to study the issue of“ reintegration of Russia ”.
Experts believe that now Mr. Degtyarev will become “technically easier” to implement his strategy for the “reintegration” of Russian sports in the world.
Vyacheslav Kantor fell under sanctions in 2022 and in the summer of the same year reduced the share of ownership in Acron, transferring more than 45% of the company's shares to trust management of top managers. Mr. Kantor tried to challenge his introduction to the lists by filed a lawsuit in the EU court in Luxembourg against the Council of the European Union, but in January 2025, the instance upheld the action of measures imposed on a businessman.
Gulbakhor Ismailov was in the EU sanction list in the spring of 2022 as a close relative of the USM founder Alisher Usmanov, who was under sanctions since February of the same year.
In May 2024, the EU court rejected the lawsuit of Mrs. Ismailova to remove the sanctions from her. In 2024, Gulbakhor Ismailova voluntarily abandoned the rights to gain benefits from two family trusts.
Finally, businessman Vladimir Rashevsky (he left the post of chief executive director of the EuroCim group the day after included in the sanctions list in 2022) was removed from the list not so much by the efforts of the Hungarian side as “due to insufficient legal justification” of personal sanctions against him.
Three more unnamed Russians were excluded from the list due to their death.
Moreover, initially, according to data BloombergHungary, in exchange for supporting the extension of sanctions, tried to lobby for the exception of eight names from the list (according to information Reuters – Nine). Including, it was supposedly about businessman Mikhail Friedman, for whom Luxembourg also stood out. But in the end, he remained on the sanctions lists.
The conclusion from the sanctions of four, although it has become positive news, did not change the general mood of most Western countries regarding Moscow.
For example, in a statement by the G7 countries, whose foreign ministers gathered at the end of this week in Canada, it was noted that new sanctions were waiting for Russia if it does not agree to a truce with Ukraine. However, no specific restrictions were discussed, moreover, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the American leadership does not consider it necessary to tighten the sanctions, « because he hopes to attract people from both sides to peace negotiations. »
Another “positive signal” was the words of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who stated that the issue of Ukraine joining NATO “no longer stands on the agenda”. This can already be considered a great moral victory of Moscow. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, during his visit to the United States, Mr. Rutte, on the one hand, noted that “we must continue to put pressure on the Russians”, and on the other hand, he did not rule out the normalization of the EU and the USA relations with Russia “in the long run”. “But we are still not ready for this now,” the NATO head summed up.
