EU sanctions list

Hungary forces removal of several oligarchs

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wanted the oligarchs to be removed in return for his agreement to an extension of the Russia sanctions.(Bild: APA/AP)

The Hungarian government has used a veto threat to force the removal of several Russian oligarchs from an EU sanctions list. Hungary put a possible veto against the extension of the Russia sanctions on the table as a means of exerting pressure.

The exact background to Hungary's actions is unclear. However, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has already stated several times that he does not consider the EU's Russia sanctions to be effective in principle. EU sanctions generally include travel restrictions, the freezing of assets and a ban on the provision of funds or other economic resources. In most cases, they were imposed in response to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, which in the EU's view was unjustified and unprovoked.

Among those freed is Vyacheslav Moshe Kantor. The majority owner of the Russian fertilizer manufacturer Akron, who holds Russian, British and Israeli citizenship, has been on the EU's sanctions list since April 2022.

Former President of the National Council stands up for Kantor
The European Jewish Congress, of which he was still president at the time, expressed its dismay and called for the decision to be reversed immediately. According to media reports, there were also efforts in Austria to remove Kantor from the sanctions list.

(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

The former President of the National Council, Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP), called the punitive measures in July 2023 "regrettable". For this reason, "like all other Jewish communities, including the Ukrainian one", he supports the review of the accusations against the former EJC president, according to a written statement from his spokesperson. Sobotka made his comments following a report in the daily newspaper "Der Standard", according to which he had intervened in favor of Kantor during visits to Brussels with high-ranking EU politicians.

Support also from Macron
Kantor's successor at the head of the EJC, former ICG President Ariel Muzicant, said at the time that Kantor had only been placed on the sanctions list because "the Poles have an axe to grind with him". Alongside Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, French President Emmanuel Macron also supported him. 

Top representatives of the EU did not address the problems with Hungary in their public communication on Friday. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even spoke of increasing pressure against Russia. "Our determination to support Ukraine is crucial," she wrote on Platform X.