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Hungary has threatened to block the EU’s renewal of sanctions imposed on about 2,000 Russians unless oligarch Mikhail Fridman is removed from the list.
The travel restrictions and asset freeze orders imposed on politicians and businesspeople deemed to have supported or facilitated Russia’s war on Ukraine will expire on Saturday unless all 27 EU capitals agree to roll them over for another six months.
Hungary’s ambassador to the EU has demanded that Fridman, who made his fortune in Russia before moving to London a decade ago, be removed from the list as the price of Budapest allowing the rollover of all other sanctions to take place, according to four officials briefed on the discussions.
EU ambassadors are meeting in Brussels on Thursday following days of talks that have failed to reach a compromise. Kyiv’s staunchest allies in the Baltic region are opposed to any weakening of the EU’s restrictions against Moscow, particularly before the conclusion of any ceasefire talks brokered by the US.
Hungary, the EU’s most pro-Russia member led by far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has repeatedly threatened to block, delay or water down the bloc’s measures against Moscow. Its efforts to have Fridman removed from the list are supported by Luxembourg, according to three officials.
Fridman last year filed a lawsuit against Luxembourg, where his interest in London-based investment firm LetterOne is held, seeking $15.8bn in sanctions-related damages.
One of only two of the original oligarchs who made their fortunes in Russia’s rough-and-tumble 1990s to remain active in business, the Ukraine-born Fridman initially offered guarded criticism of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion before souring on the west and returning to Moscow last October.
Fridman declined to comment.
Hungary had initially requested eight names be delisted, including other Russian billionaires such as Alisher Usmanov and Fridman’s longtime partner Petr Aven. But Budapest has dropped some of those demands, three officials said, while insisting on Fridman’s exclusion.
Fridman and Aven won a case at the EU’s general court in April 2024 which found the EU was wrong to add them to the list in 2022. The court said it had not provided enough evidence of their close links to Putin.
The oligarchs’ victory was the highest-profile blow to the EU sanctions regime against Russia since the invasion.
But they remain subject to a second EU sanctions decision in 2023, over their business presence in Russia. Latvia has appealed against the first ruling in the oligarchs’ favour, while Fridman and Aven are challenging the second ruling.
Late last year, Fridman and Aven sold their stakes in Alfa-Bank, Russia’s largest private lender, and its sister insurance company to longtime partner Andrei Kosogov, who is not under sanctions.
The oligarchs hope selling the companies meant they would no longer meet the remaining criteria for EU sanctions against them on the grounds they were “leading business persons . . . involved in an economic sector providing a substantial source of revenue” to the Kremlin.
Spokespeople for the governments of Hungary and Luxembourg did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Separately, the EU’s measures targeting the Russian economy, including the freezing of almost €200bn in sovereign assets, will need to be extended in July.
Additional reporting by Andy Bounds in Brussels and Marton Dunai in Budapest
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