The European Union agreed on Friday to renew sanctions on Russian individuals and entities but kept Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman on the list despite pressure from Hungary, EU diplomats said. EU sanctions must be renewed every six months in a unanimous vote by the 27 member states' ambassadors to Brussels.

Russia may be freed from EU sanctions as early as the morning of March 16 if Hungary blocks their extension. Read below why this time Budapest's purely pragmatic demands have been joined by political ones,

European Pravda, citing a European diplomat, has reported that the European Union, under pressure from Hungary, had removed from its sanctions lists the names of Vladimir Rashevsky (former head of one of the largest producers of mineral fertilisers,

The EU has agreed to remove four individuals from its sanctions list against Russia after a delay from Hungary, AFP and Reuters reported Friday, paving the way for the bloc to extend restrictions on more than 2,

Hungary has used its veto to force the lifting of EU sanctions on several Russians, several diplomats confirmed to dpa on Friday. One of the Russians involved is oligarch Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, a major shareholder in one of Russia's largest fertilizer manufacturers who has close ties to President Vladimir Putin.