• 

Hungary advocated for excluding several individuals from the ninth EU sanctions to keep official communication channels open, and it planned to impose sanctions against 141 people in total, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.

"In this new package sanctions are expected to be introduced against 141 individuals and 47 organizations. We did not keep it a secret, neither during the preliminary discussion of the project nor now of the fact that we asked to remove several individuals from the list. Because we believe that having certain government officials on the sanctions list would mean serious problems for keeping communication channels open," Szijjarto said on social media.

The ninth package of EU sanctions did not include restrictions against the Russian energy sector and nuclear energy, Szijjarto added.

Earlier in the day, the European Union's Foreign Policy Chief, Josep Borrell, pointed out that the bloc's member states have not yet agreed on the ninth package of anti-Russia sanctions.

Before an EU foreign ministers' meeting, Borrell told reporters he hoped for agreement later on Monday or on Tuesday, referring to additional anti-Russia sanctions that would place almost 200 more individuals and entities on the EU sanctions list.

The EU foreign policy chief said the bloc's foreign ministers will discuss the ninth package of sanctions against Russia on Monday since a number of issues need to be agreed on.

According to Borrell, "This [Foreign Affairs] Council is going to be very long and difficult because we have in the agenda Iran, we have in the agenda sanctions against Russia, the ninth package, we are still not there, we have not yet finished [the ninth package]."

"In accordance with the current state of affairs, sanctions measures affecting the Russian energy sector were also not included in the ninth package of sanctions. And we also managed to achieve, according to the current state of affairs, that nuclear energy will not be part of the sanctions package," Szijjarto said.

EU Commission proposes 9th package of anti-Russia sanctions: President

The EU's executive arm on Wednesday proposed imposing new sanctions on Russia's armed forces, three banks, and several officials, as part of the bloc's anti-Russia sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

The EU has already imposed eight waves of unprecedented anti-Russia sanctions since the start of the Ukraine war in February, including targeting Russian key oil exports. 

EU ambassadors were to start discussing the new proposed package late Wednesday. The agreement requires unanimity of all 27 member countries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen indicated that the EU would now look to add "almost 200 individuals and entities" to its visa ban and asset freeze blacklist, including military officers, ministers, and defense firms.  

The EU, along with its partners in the G7, introduced measures this week aimed at capping the price of Russian oil sold on the world market. The EU's ban on seaborne crude imports from Russia also came into force, after initially being agreed upon early this year.