By Julia Payne and Gabriela Baczynska
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union will not renew sanctions against three men targeted over Russia’s war against Ukraine when the current punitive measures expire later this week, three diplomatic sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
Western governments have imposed sweeping economic sanctions, including Russian oil import bans, on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
The trio are Russian businessman Grigory Berezkin, billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov and the former head of Ozon, a Russian e-commerce firm, Alexander Shulgin.
Russian military leader Georgy Shuvaev, who died last year, will also be removed.
The EU needs unanimity among all the bloc’s 27 member states to impose sanctions, which are renewed every six months. The next batch expires on Sept. 15.
So far, nearly 1,600 individuals and more than 200 entities are on the EU’s sanctions list, which dates back to 2014 when Russia took over the Crimea region from Ukraine.
Akhmedov is involved in Russia’s oil and gas sector while Berezkin, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is involved in a range of sectors including media, infrastructure and energy, according to the official EU sanctions list.
(Reporting by Julia Payne and Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Alex Richardson)
