"A major diplomatic win": EU extends sanctions on Russians with no easing

The European Union on Friday approved the extension of personal sanctions against Russian oligarchs and officials for another six months. This means that none of the previously sanctioned Russians – including billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman – will be removed from the lists, said Vladislav Vlasyuk, the President's Commissioner for Sanctions Policy.

"At the Coreper, we agreed to extend EU sanctions against Russia without political lifting of sanctions. This is great news and a major diplomatic victory for our team and our partners," he wrote on Facebook.

On September 9, Ukrainian media-outlet European Pravda wrote that Hungary and Slovakia demanded that six Russians be removed from the EU sanctions list.

Vlasiuk said that they were talking about, among others, Dmitri Mazepin, Petr Aven, Alisher Usmanov, and Mykhail Friedman.

• The European Union has imposed sanctions on more than 2,500 individuals and organizations in connection with the Russian-Ukrainian war. Among them are the Russian leadership, high-ranking officials and military officers, influential businessmen and oligarchs.
• For individuals, this means freezing all accounts in EU banks, a ban on traveling within the Union and a ban on providing them with any assets or funds.