Sanctions do not work (episode 6,874,464)

"Russian fertiliser baron Kantor delisted in EU sanctions deal"

(I am quoting in full because paywall.)

Fertiliser baron Moshe Kantor and three other Russians are to be taken off the EU’s blacklist in a last-minute deal with Hungary.

The other three are: Russian sports minister Mikhail Degtyaryov, an oligarch’s sister called Gulbahor Ismailova, and Russian businessman Vladimir Rashevsky Three recently deceased people (a Russian politician and two military officers - Nikolai Ryzhkov, Andrei Ermishko, and Aleksei Bolshakov) are also to be taken out, in a routine clean-up exercise.

The 11th-hour compromise means all 1,872 other individuals will remain under an asset-freeze and visa-ban until 15 September, when the next six-month rollover falls due.

The Kremlin-friendly Hungary, backed by Slovakia, had also pushed to delist Russian moguls Pyotr Aven, Musa Bazhaev, Mikhail Fridman, Dmitry Mazepin, and Alisher Usmanov (Ismailova’s brother), under a threat to veto the whole EU list if it did not get its way.

Luxembourg had, likewise, sought to get Fridman delisted, the FT reported, after he sued the Duchy for billions over his asset-freeze, because one of his holding companies is based there.

The EU has frozen some €24.9bn of private Russian assets under the blacklist.

Kantor was the biggest fish out of the four to be let off the hook.

The 71-year-old was previously the head of the European Jewish Congress, a Brussels-based lobby group, which had often pleaded for him to be let back into the EU.

He also has British and Israeli citizenship, reportedly lives in Tel Aviv, and is said by US magazine Forbes to be worth €8bn.

"He has close ties to [Russian] president Vladimir Putin. This connection with the Russian president has helped him to maintain his considerable wealth. He has openly declared his support to and friendship for president Putin on numerous occasions, and enjoys good relations with the Kremlin," his EU-sanctions notice had earlier said.

Hungarian pressure aside, Rashevsky’s delisting was agreed due to an EU consensus that the legal case against him was "weak", an EU diplomat said, given some 110 legal challenges by Russians against EU sanctions at the EU courts in Luxembourg. The 51-year-old used to be CEO of fertiliser firm Eurochem, which the EU had accused of supplying ammonia to Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine, but he left his post when he was first blacklisted in 2022.

"Legal solidity [of the sanctions regime] is of utmost importance. We cannot allow ourselves to be weak and lose cases," a second EU diplomat said.

The EU rollover comes amid US pressure on Russia to join a ceasefire pact agreed between Washington and Kyiv.

The EU has also frozen €210bn of Russian central bank assets, embargoed some €140bn a year worth of Russian trade, and blacklisted over 500 Russian companies and other entities in 16 rounds of sanctions since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and Hungary will also top the agenda when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels on 17 March.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has proposed new military aid to Ukraine based on a percentage of member states’ gross national income, to make sure everyone paid their fair share.

The scheme is to be joined on a voluntary basis to bypass Hungary’s veto powers.

The Netherlands and Lithuania have advocated a benchmark of at least €40bn in total EU contributions, while earlier discussions had focused on figures from €30bn to €20bn.

https://euobserver.com/eu-and-the-world/ar6db36d4a

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