Tag: war

“After a brutally cold winter in Ukraine, months of supposed peace talks that have produced little more than political theater, and with Russia showing no sign of stopping its barrage of attacks, the EU had been confident it could finally bring Kyiv some concrete help.
But the carefully choreographed support was spoiled when Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced his country would block Europe’s 20th round of Russian sanctions because of an oil dispute Budapest has with Ukraine, ratcheting up the two countries’ long-simmering feud.

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Hungary’s move marked a “new low” for Orbán, Sweden’s Europe Minister Jessica Rosencrantz told POLITICO. “We’ve seen in previous decisions that Hungary is not acting in a way of sincere cooperation” with other EU states. “That should send an alarm to many of us. We’re seeing what Orbán is doing: he’s using Ukraine as a punching bag.”

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The crux of Hungary’s row is the Druzhba pipeline, which stretches 4,000 kilometers from eastern Russia to Central Europe, providing vast quantities of oil for Hungary and Slovakia. Both have exemptions from EU sanctions on imports of Russian refined oil.

The pipeline has been offline since Jan. 27, when Ukrainian authorities said a Russian strike damaged it. But Budapest and Bratislava aren’t buying that, accusing Ukraine of intentionally keeping the pipeline inoperative.

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Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said he was “really upset and frustrated,” adding Hungary’s move not only calls the EU’s support for Ukraine into question but its unity and ability to act decisively when major decisions are constrained by unanimity.

“I hope that Europe can deliver,” he said. And “that tomorrow it won’t be the situation when we will be saying, ‘We are sorry, 20th package is not there. We are sorry, €90 billion maybe next month, maybe somewhere in the future.’””

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-ukraine-visit-hungary-blocks-russia-sanctions-funding-feud-viktor-orban/