The Dutch, backed by France, Germany, and the UK, recently launched an EU project to impose visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers.

But they formally called it an "EU Human Rights Sanctions Regime" and highlighted crimes in Africa and Asia, rather than Russia.

However, the project has its roots in US 'Magnitsky Acts', which blacklisted the suspected killers of Magnitsky, a Russian anti-corruption activist, among others.

But Rutte told MPs he chose to drop Magnitsky's name from the proposal because that would help it win support in the EU Council, where member states meet.

"Some countries say: 'We do want to give support, but we want a more neutral name'," Rutte said.

Naming it after Magnitsky "would lead to a little bit less support than you would like," he added.

"Under the slogan 'better a law without a name, then a name without a law', we chose to use a more neutral name for now," the prime minister said.

Magnitsky was killed after exposing a corruption scheme involving top EU banks, Russian tax officials, intelligence officers, and close friends of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Putin has lobbied pro-Russian EU leaders, such as Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades, to help him shut down a campaign for justice in the Magnitsky case.

Rutte admitted on Wednesday: "I cannot now say precisely why this would be the case, but apparently it is very sensitive to use that name".

His pragmatism has annoyed some politicians around Europe, 100 of whom recently signed an open letter urging him to confront Russia's EU friends head on.

Bill Browder, Magnitsky's former employer, who has campaigned for sanctions in his name for the past nine years, urged the same.

"Mark Rutte presents a false choice between a Magnitsky law without Magnitsky's name on it or no law at all. He's apparently unaware of the near unanimous support in Europe for a Magnitsky law named after Sergei Magnitsky," Browder told EUobserver.

EU leaders extended the life of economic sanctions on Russia, imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, at their summit in Brussels on Thursday without much ado.

"Decision: EU unanimously prolongs economic sanctions against Russia given zero progress in implementation of Minsk agreements," EU Council president Donald Tusk said on Twitter, referring to the so-called Minsk ceasefire accord on the conflict.

Russia criticism

EU leaders criticised Putin for his navy's recent attack on Ukrainian vessels in the Azov Sea.

"There is no justification for the use of military force by Russia," they said in the final conclusions.

They also called for "the immediate release" of captured Ukrainian sailors and for an end to Russia's economic blockade on Ukrainian ports.

They did not discuss extra sanctions over the Azov Sea attack, in case it prompted a backlash by pro-Russian EU states, such as Hungary or Italy.

In a separate decision, the leaders aim to set aside more resources to fight "the spread of deliberate, large-scale, and systematic disinformation, including as part of hybrid warfare" in Europe.

They also highlight the importance of "securing free and fair European and national elections".

The draft conclusions do not mention Russia in these areas.

But Russia is the subtext, given Putin's mass-scale anti-EU propaganda campaign and his meddling in recent French, German, and US elections.

Like Rutte's apparent pragmatism on "the Magnitsky initiative", not naming Russia on "hybrid warfare" is also designed to be acceptable to Russia-friendly EU states.

But Browder told EUobserver it all looked "like a Putin-appeasement exercise", rather than "a genuine concern" to do the right thing.