The sanctions must be renewed every six months, but that requires a unanimous vote, and Hungary did not agree to that on Friday.
The ambassadors of the member countries of the European Union could not agree on the extension of sanctions against Russia in Brussels on Friday. With reference to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the 24.hu server reported this, the TASR correspondent in Budapest reports.
The decision will probably be made on Monday at a meeting of the Union’s foreign ministers, but it is possible that a separate EU summit will also be convened next week, writes the Hungarian server.
The sanctions must be renewed every six months, but that requires a unanimous vote, and Hungary did not agree to that on Friday.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to come to an agreement to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible. Otherwise, according to Trump, the United States will impose high taxes, duties and sanctions on everything that Russia sells to it and other countries. According to the 24.hu server, this slightly disrupted the Hungarian campaign against sanctions, but in the end Orbán’s government came out with a new demand. It is asking Ukraine to continue supplying natural gas and oil, and if it does so, the sanctions will remain in place.
On Friday, Orbán indicated on Facebook that Budapest would veto the extension of these sanctions. “In Brussels, the issue of extending the sanctions is now on the agenda, and I pulled the handbrake. It is impossible for Hungary to pay such a disproportionate price for sanctions,” Orbán wrote, according to which his country lost 19 billion euros over the past three years due to Brussels sanctions.
Orbán called on Kyiv to restore gas transit, not to militarily attack the pipeline route, and also asked for a guarantee that what Ukraine did with gas will not be repeated with oil, as it also passes through its territory. “This is a serious risk for Hungary,” concluded the Hungarian Prime Minister.
