The EU will remove two Russians from the list of sanctions

European Union ambassadors are expected to remove Nikita Mazepin and Violetta Prigozhinan from the sanctions list this week, according to some Radio Free Europe sources.

The EU has frozen assets and imposed a visa ban on 2,300 people and entities since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine in February 2022.

Every six months, the sanctions against these persons must be extended with the consensus of the 27 member countries.

The deadline for extending the sanctions is September 15.

When it has voted on sanctions in the past, Hungary has asked for some people to be removed from the list in order for Budapest to approve them.

Some of the most vocally anti-Russian countries, such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, have called for the bloc to adopt sanctions on an annual basis, rather than every six months, but Budapest has resisted.

Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, and his government have repeatedly resisted the sanctions and accused Brussels of harming the economy of Hungary and other member countries through these measures.

Hungary currently holds the EU Presidency.

EU diplomats have told Radio Free Europe that a compromise has been reached for the continuation of sanctions against the listed persons, except for two persons.

It has been proposed that Mazepin and Prigozhina be removed from the list, as they are considered "weak cases" by the EU's legal service, which monitors the legal aspects of Brussels' sanctions policy.

Mazepin, a former driver in the Formula One races, at the same time the son of the Russian oligarch, Dmitry Mazepin, won the court case earlier in the year for the removal of sanctions against him.

However, he remained on the list, as the EU argued that the decision only mentioned the pre-Pakistan period of sanctions, and since then Brussels has updated the list with new criteria.

Prigozhina, the mother of the late Russian oligarch, former boss of the mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, won the battle in court last year, but continued to be part of the sanctions.

Prigozhin, a longtime close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died along with nine other people in a plane crash in August 2023, two months after Wagner launched a rebellion against the Russian leadership. .

Prigozhina is an artist and owner of an art gallery.

The next phase for approval of sanctions is in March 2025./ REL