Orbán threatens to veto EU sanctions on Russia over gas transit

According to the media source, Orbán threatened to veto the EU sanctions against Russia when the time comes for their renewal in six months. According to the Prime Minister of Hungary, this will happen if Ukraine does not restore the transit of Russian gas by then.

At the same time, Orbán stated that this week Hungary received guarantees from the EU executive regarding the restoration of transit through Ukraine. This prompted his government to back down from its position on the extension of sanctions against Moscow, which require the agreement of all 27 member countries of the bloc.

"If the promise is broken, we will not only propose stopping the sanctions but also cancel them," said Orbán.

Extension of EU sanctions against Russia

In the near future, EU ambassadors will hold a meeting on the automatic extension of sanctions against Russia. Earlier, such decisions were made unanimously without issues, but this time there is a risk of a blockage from Hungary.

This risk arose because, since January 1 of this year, Ukraine has stopped the transit of Russian gas through its territory. Hungary and Slovakia, which receive gas from Russia, opposed this decision.

They called on the EU to influence Ukraine's decision, and the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, threatened to stop exporting electricity to Ukraine and reduce aid to Ukrainian refugees.

Orbán himself criticized Ukraine's decision before and set conditions for the continuation of EU sanctions against Russia.