Hungarian Foreign Ministry: EU has not made decisions on the next package of sanctions against Russia

The foreign ministers of the EU member states failed to agree on the 11th package of sanctions against Russia and additional military assistance to Ukraine from the European Peace Fund. This was announced by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. The press conference was broadcast on the minister’s Facebook page (owned by Meta, banned and recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation).

“Decision on further financing of arms supplies [на Украину из Европейского фонда мира] was not accepted. No decision was made on sanctions either,” he said.

Szijjarto recalled that Hungary is demanding that OTP Bank be excluded from the Ukrainian list of “international war sponsors”. According to him, Budapest also did not support a number of provisions of the 11th package of sanctions. In particular, Hungary opposed additional trade restrictions and sanctions against Chinese companies that are suspected of collaborating with the Russian Federation. Szijjarto stressed that Budapest would also not allow sanctions on the nuclear industry.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister again pointed out that anti-Russian sanctions “harm much more to Europe” than to Russia, and said that the 11th package will be “a real test for Europe itself and for the economies of European countries.”

On May 22, in Brussels, the foreign ministers of the EU countries discussed new restrictions against Russia as part of the 11th package of sanctions. The day before, on May 21, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto noted that the republic is ready for pressure from other EU members at the upcoming meeting. Before that he emphasizedthat Budapest will block EU military assistance to Ukraine until sanctions are lifted on OTR Bank. The minister added that Ukraine “behaves more and more hostile towards Hungary”, so the Cabinet of Ministers will not support the 11th package of sanctions.

Since the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, the EU has already adopted 10 packages of sanctions, the last of them on February 24. At the end of March, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced new restrictions against the Russian Federation. Earlier today, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonnat statedthat the new package could be adopted before the end of June, when the EU summit takes place.

Earlier, Ursula von der Leyen said that the 11th package of sanctions will be aimed at combating circumvention of restrictions. She later reportedthat new restrictions may include a ban on the transit of a number of goods through the territory of Russia, as well as their export to certain third countries.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the imposed sanctions against the Russian Federation. In particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin called restrictions are illegitimate and said that they “cause serious damage to the international legal system.” In the Kremlin declaredthat Western citizens have to pay for sanctions against Russia.