Hungary threatens to block EU’s 20th Russia sanctions package over halted oil shipments

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Budapest threatened to block a new package of European Union sanctions against Russia and to stall efforts to help Ukraine until Russian oil deliveries to Hungary resume.

The EU's foreign ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the bloc's 20th round of sanctions against Moscow, a measure they hope will be approved in time to coincide with the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday.

In a video posted to social media Sunday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said he would block the sanctions package, accusing Ukraine of deliberately holding back Russian oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline.

“We will not consent to the adoption of the 20th package of sanctions, because we have previously made it clear that until the Ukrainians resume oil shipments to Hungary, we will not allow decisions that are important to them to be approved,” Szijjártó said.

Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since Jan. 27 after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian drone attacks that damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude across Ukrainian territory and into Central Europe, leading to rising tensions between Budapest and Kyiv.

For the sanctions to pass, the 27-nation bloc needs to reach a unanimous decision.

Nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Yet Hungary and Slovakia, both EU and NATO members, have maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas, and received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil.

Szijjártó also said Saturday Hungary will block a major 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) EU loan to Ukraine meant to help Kyiv meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.

Earlier in the week, Hungary and Slovakia announced they would both cease diesel shipments to Ukraine over oil interruptions, and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico on Saturday said his country would cut off emergency electricity supplies to its embattled neighbor if oil deliveries were not restored by Monday.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who maintains the closest relationship with the Kremlin of any EU leader, has long argued Russian fossil fuels are indispensable for his economy, and that switching to energy sourced from elsewhere would cause an immediate economic collapse — an argument some experts dispute.

Orbán has frequently threatened to scuttle the bloc’s efforts to sanction Moscow over its invasion, and has blasted attempts to hit Russia’s energy revenues that help finance the war. He has also vetoed EU efforts to provide military and financial assistance to Ukraine.