(ANSA-AFP) - BRUSSELS, 14 MAR - The EU said Saturday it had voted to renew sanctions to measures against 2,600 Russian individuals and entities for another six months, as Slovakia dropped its objections. The EU Council said the sanctions, imposed after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, had been renewed for another six months until September 15 -- a day before the last six-month period was set to expire. The vote required unanimous backing and Slovakia had been holding to have two names removed from the list: Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, and Mikahil Fridman, one of the founders of the Alpha finance group. An EU diplomatic source told AFP that Slovakia had not got what it wanted. The EU said two names were dropped from the list -- without saying who they were. The names of another five were dropped as they were now dead. Slovakia and Hungary, both close to Moscow, had threatened not to back the renewal of the sanctions for the list as it stood. Both countries accuse Kyiv of deliberately delaying reopening the Druzhba pipeline, which pumps Russian oil to the two landlocked states and Ukraine says was damaged by Russian strikes in January. Hungary is still blocking a 90-million-euro ($100-million) EU loan to Ukraine and new sanctions against Moscow over its oil dispute with Kyiv. (ANSA-AFP).