Politico: Hungary backs down on push to lift EU sanctions on 3 Russian oligarchs

Hungary has, for now, dropped its demand to lift sanctions imposed by the European Union on three Russian oligarchs — a push that had threatened to derail the process of renewing the penalties.

The EU must periodically review and renew its time-limited sanctions against individuals, imposed at the outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine, or they will lapse. Ahead of Wednesday's (September 7) meeting of EU envoys, the Czech presidency of the Council of the EU reached an agreement with the Hungarians to avoid a blockade on the extension process by postponing the discussion on the three names to the next time the list must be reviewed in a couple of months, Politico reports.

This avoided a clash at Wednesday's meeting, according to three EU diplomats. Budapest's push ahead of the talks had infuriated other EU countries, which have bitter memories of Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán’s hold-up on the EU’s oil ban earlier this year.

According to two diplomats, the Russian businessmen concerned are Alisher Usmanov, Petr Aven and Viktor Rashnikov.

The Council will now take the next technical steps to make sure the sanctions list gets prolonged by the deadline of mid-September.