The UK will follow the European Union in announcing new sanctions against Russia, and the FT has learned about Hungary’s refusal to support the new package of sanctions – these and other important news for Thursday morning, December 8, in our daily review.

Britain will announce a new round of anti-Russian sanctions on Friday, December 9, Bloomberg reports citing informed sources. According to them, the new package includes the expansion of the sanctions list of both companies and Russian citizens. It will also include measures against evasion of previously imposed sanctions and against persons responsible for corruption and human rights violations in Russia.

Hungary has opposed the new package of sanctions against Russia and the proposal to double the EU fund used to finance arms supplies to Ukraine, The Financial Times quoted senior EU diplomats as saying. According to the diplomats, European countries fear that Hungary will “hold hostage” all upcoming EU decisions, which require a unanimous decision by all countries of the union. “We should expect radical steps, we should be ready,” a senior diplomat said.

At the end of 11 months, smartphone sales in Russia fell by 19% in units and 22% in monetary terms: about 21 million devices worth 477 billion rubles were sold. The most popular brand was the Chinese Xiaomi (HK:1810) and its sub-brand Poco – 33% of the market in units), in money, the market leader remains Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) (34%), writes “Kommersant” with reference to data from MTS (MCX:MTSS).

Western officials accuse Turkey of disrupting crude oil supplies to the world market from the Black Sea through its Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, knowledgeable sources told the Financial Times. Turkey does not allow tankers through the straits because of fears that their cargo may not be insured due to EU sanctions: they prohibit insurance and transportation of Russian oil if it is sold to third countries at a price above the ceiling of $60 per barrel.

Uralchem, a major fertilizer producer, is interested in buying Russian assets of global grain traders Cargill and Viterra (formerly Glencore (LON:GLEN) Agriculture). This is reported by Kommersant with reference to a letter from Uralchem CEO Dmitry Konyaev to President Vladimir Putin.