Hungary demands that the European Union lift sanctions against Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov, Dmytro Mazepin, Mikhail Fridman and others. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Szijarto, in an interview with the Russian mass media.
“We took the initiative to exclude 9 people from the EU sanctions lists. Among them was the person you mentioned (Fridman), Mr. Usmanov was among them, Mr. Mazepin was among them. That is, persons who, in our opinion, should not actually be on the list, from a legal point of view.” Sijarto noted.
According to him, in total it was about nine Russian citizens. Hungary managed to get three of them expelled, including Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev. At the same time, Siyarto clarified that Dmytro Mazepin remained on the sanctions list, while his son Nikita Mazepin was excluded earlier by court decision.
At the same time, Budapest’s tough position regarding the non-extension of certain EU sanctions against Russia in recent days has sparked active discussions among member states about the possibility of restricting Hungary’s right to vote when making important decisions within the European Union.
Experts estimate that not extending the restrictions could unlock up to 30% of frozen Russian assets — roughly 60 billion euros or even more.
