Slovakia sought to assist Hungary in lifting EU sanctions on Russian oligarch, media says

Slovakia supported Hungary's proposal to lift sanctions on several Russians, including Russian-Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who is close to Vladimir Putin, at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in February.  Source: Aktuality, citing diplomatic sources, as reported by European Pravda Details: Aktuality says that the issue of lifting sanctions against Usmanov was the subject of negotiations between Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar with their Hungarian counterparts in Budapest in December 2023. 

At that time, the Slovak authorities requested Hungary's support for the exclusion from the EU sanctions list of businessman Jozef Hambalek, who was included due to his ties with the Night Wolves Russian biker organisation close to Putin. 

Aktuality notes that the Hungarians decided to "take advantage of the situation" and, in exchange for supporting the removal of Hambalek from the sanctions list, they asked Slovakia to support the exclusion of several other Russians. Aktuality reports that Bratislava complied with this request concerning them.  These individuals include Arkady Volozh, founder of the Russian Yandex company; Sergei Mndoiants, a Kremlin advisor on EU relations; as well as Alisher Usmanov, former Formula-1 racer Nikita Mazepin, and Russian billionaire Viatcheslav Kantor. 

While Volozh and Mndoiants were reportedly removed from the sanctions list alongside Hambalek, strong objections were raised within the EU regarding Usmanov, Mazepin, and Kantor, and EU sanctions against them remained in place.

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