Hungary had initially sought to remove eight sanctioned individuals, including Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, Alisher Usmanov, and Petr Aven. According to EU diplomats, EU envoys ultimately decided to de-list four Russian individuals and to remove three recently deceased persons – whose estates are caught by the sanctions – from the list.

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.