Hungary agrees to extend sanctions against Russia, Politico reports
Pravda Ukraine
Hungary has agreed to extend sanctions against Russia for another six months in exchange for an EU statement addressing Budapest’s concerns about “energy security”.
Source: Politico, citing unnamed European diplomats, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Politico recollected that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had kept the EU on edge by threatening to block the extension of sanctions against Russia, including the freezing of its financial assets.
One EU diplomat said that by blocking the sanctions, Hungary was “playing with fire” and planting “a bomb under the transatlantic relationship”.
Meanwhile, two European diplomats said that a last-minute deal had been struck to avert Hungary’s threat to disrupt the extension of sanctions.
Budapest is expected to back down in exchange for a statement addressing Hungary’s concerns about “energy security”.
The sanctions extension is expected to be formally adopted during a meeting of foreign ministers, which began in Brussels at 10:00 local time.
Bloomberg sources also said that Hungary is ready to withdraw its opposition to the extension of sanctions.
According to one of the sources, the EU will provide several reassurances in a statement on energy security.
The statement will reaffirm the commitment to helping Ukraine recover and stabilise its infrastructure and address the issue of gas and oil supplies.
In parallel, the EU is already working on the next package of sanctions, but officials are already preparing for Budapest’s resistance. The EU hopes to adopt these measures next month.
Background: EU diplomacy chief Kaja Kallas said earlier that she expected EU member states to agree to extend sanctions against Russia.
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