The EU Friday agreed to drop three Russian individuals from its sanctions list as the price for Hungary's Viktor Orban to drop a threat to veto Europe's sanctions against Russia.

It became known how Washington managed to convince Budapest to "back down" and withdraw objections to the extension of EU anti-Russian sanctions, which expired in January this year. According to the Politico newspaper,

The European Union has reached a deal with Hungary to renew sanctions on more than 2,400 primarily Russian entities and individuals hours before they were set to expire on March 15, an EU official with knowledge of the negotiations told the Kyiv independent.

The U.S. State Department has announced sanctions on an unknown number of current and former Thai officials for their role in deporting at least 40 Uyghur men to China despite worries that they could be jailed or even face death there.

The State Department said it was “combating China’s efforts to pressure governments to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China.”