BRUSSELS, December 16. /TASS/. Hungary has insisted that three Russian ministers should be excluded from the EU’s ninth package of sanctions on Russia, EUobserver reported on Friday, citing unnamed diplomats.

According to the online publication, Budapest insisted on sparing Russia’s Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov, Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin and Health Minister Mikhail Murashko "at the last minute."

An announcement was made earlier that the ambassadors of the 27 EU member countries concurred on the ninth round of sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine and that the package will be approved in writing later on Friday, without any further debate. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a briefing after the EU summit that the bloc’s individual sanctions in the latest package would target almost 200 people.

European media reported in June that the EU stopped short of imposing sanctions on Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill because of Hungary.