Hungarian government also vetoed inclusion of Belarusian "fish king" on EU sanctions list

Iceland has used its lobbying power against the EU to protect Belarusian oligarch Alexander Moshensky, who has close ties to Alexander Lukashenko, from being placed on the EU sanctions list, and Hungary has also used its veto rights to protect the Belarusian businessman, Euractiv reports.

Moshensky, who has interests in the food industry, including Santa Bremor and Savuskin Produkt, is also known in Belarus as the 'fish king', a nickname he has earned because his companies use the port of Klaipeda in Lithuania to transport raw fish from Norway, Iceland, South America and Asia to Belarus. He owns part of his companies' fishing business directly and part through offshore companies.

He has had close economic and diplomatic ties with Iceland for almost 20 years. Representatives of the Icelandic Foreign Ministry have telephoned EU decision-makers more than 30 times to lobby on Moshensky's behalf. In 2006, he was appointed Iceland's Honorary Consul to Belarus, a post he still holds, according to the website of the Icelandic government. The Icelandic Pirate Party has been critical of the Icelandic government for lobbying to ensure that the businessman is not subject to sanctions.

Hungary came to Moshensky's aid in early May, after ten EU countries asked to have the fish king added to the sanctions list. Hungary's opposition greatly angered the Poles and Lithuanians, the article states.

According to the article, the Hungarian government – apart from being verbal about expressly opposing any EU restrictions on Belarus – has its own representation in the offices of Moshensky's flagship company Santa Bremor: the managing director of Santa Bremor is Sergey Nyadbaylau, who is Hungary's honorary consul in Belarus.

Moshensky has extensive links with the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who has had tens of thousands of people imprisoned and beaten. The businessman has accompanied Lukashenko on foreign trips in the Belarusian government plane several times, he has supported him in election campaigns and has been awarded Belarusian state honours.