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.

China has lodged a diplomatic protest against Canada for including Chinese companies in new sanctions against Russia, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The European Union has announced expanded sanctions on Belarus as part of its 16th package of restrictive measures targeting Russia, according to a statement from the European Commission on February 24,

The EU formally approved a fresh round of sanctions against Russia on Monday, aiming to curb Moscow's war effort on the third anniversary of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The 16th sanctions package since February 2022 targets Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of vessels used to evade oil export restrictions,