Hungary agrees to approve sanctions extension against Russia
Photo: Viktor Orbán (Getty Images)
Hungary agreed at the last minute to approve the extension of sanctions against Russia. Budapest is expected to make the concessions in exchange for a statement addressing Hungary's concerns about the energy, according to Politico.
EU ambassadors are to meet in an emergency session on the morning of January 27, and the deal is expected to be formalized during a meeting of foreign ministers that follows in Brussels, one diplomat said.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv is ready to sign an agreement on Azerbaijani gas supplies to Hungary and Slovakia, provided that the Kremlin does not benefit from it.
Türkiye also intervened in the confrontation: its ambassador to the EU, Faruk Kaymakci, said that Ankara was ready to help replace Ukraine as a transit country.
The scenario in which Hungary blocks the extension of sanctions today is not a baseline scenario, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys told reporters. “That would leave all the EU and Hungary in a position of weakness … That would also limit the U.S. in [terms of] options seeking a long-term sustainable peace in Europe.”
Hungary's threat has prompted high-level warnings, including from Polish Prime Minister Tusk, who wrote in X: “If [Orbán] really blocks European sanctions at a key moment for the war, it’ll be absolutely clear that in this big game for the security and future of Europe, he is playing in Putin’s team, not in ours. With all the consequences of this fact.”
One EU diplomat said that Hungary is "playing with fire" and “putting a bomb in transatlantic relationship” if it blocks the sanctions.
“They [the Hungarians] like the drama,” said a third EU diplomat, adding that the measures would be extended in some form.
The EU extends the current sanctions every six months, which requires a unanimous decision by its 27 member states.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas expressed some optimism that the EU will reach an agreement to maintain sanctions against Russia until they expire at the end of January.
She says she is optimistic because they have always reached unity in the end and maintained it until now, so she is sure sure they will succeed this time.
