Hungary put before the EU the issue of further maintenance of sanctions against Russia

During the meeting of the heads of the energy departments of the EU countries in Brussels, Hungary raised the question before the EU authorities whether it is worth continuing the sanctions pressure on Russia. This was told by the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry Peter Szijjarto.

“I asked a clear question today to the European Commissioner [по вопросам энергетики Кадри Симпсон]: how long the European Union intends to continue the policy of sanctions [в отношении России],” he said (quote according to TASS).

Szijjarto once again said that the EU policy towards Russia did not live up to expectations, and the sanctions failed. He pointed to the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine, as well as economic problems in Europe. The Hungarian Foreign Minister noted that his question remained unanswered.

Earlier, Szijjarto promised that he would ask Europe to stop taking steps that lead to an escalation of the Ukrainian conflict. He added that EU countries should focus on “achieving peace in Europe.”

The Hungarian minister also said that the Ukrainian conflict has led to a “catastrophic weakening” of the EU. According to him, the European authorities failed to prevent the negative consequences of the sanctions against the Russian Federation and the energy crisis. Prior to that, he said that Hungary does not support the further tightening of sanctions against the Russian Federation in the field of energy.

The day before, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also announced the ineffectiveness of sanctions against the Russian Federation. He noted that Western countries have imposed more than 11,000 anti-Russian sanctions, but in the end, the measures taken have caused inflation and energy shortages. According to him, such actions of the authorities “could bring Europe to its knees.”

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