In January, Budapest, which has maintained close ties with Moscow through the war, held up the renewal of the economic sanctions that include the immobilisation of Moscow's central bank assets. An agreement was reached after the European Commission agreed to include Hungary in talks about resuming gas transit to the EU through Ukraine.

The European Union announced its 16th package of sanctions against Russia on Feb. 24. Among the new targets of the sanctions is the cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, which has already been under sanction by the United States for three years.

European Union envoys have approved new sanctions against Russia, with the measures set to enter into force next week on the third anniversary of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine