The Hungarian leader has threatened to obstruct the EU’s sanctions on Russia if Ukraine refuses to resume gas transits
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, will be treated as if he is on Russia’s side if he blocks the renewal of EU sanctions on Moscow, and will face “consequences” as a result.
The EU has imposed 15 rounds of economic penalties on Russia since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, freezing Moscow’s sovereign assets and severing almost all trade and energy links between the bloc and Russia. These sanctions must be renewed every six months with the unanimous consent of all 27 EU member states, with the next deadline on January 31.
Earlier this week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban threatened to “pull the handbrake” on this renewal if Kiev does not restart a transit deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom to allow Russian gas to flow into the EU via Ukraine.
“If Viktor Orban 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 [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s team, not in ours,” Tusk wrote in a post on X on Saturday. “With all the consequences of this fact.”
“It may be difficult for Soros’ agent to understand, but when it comes to teams, we play for the Hungarian team,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto responded on Facebook, accusing Tusk of doing the bidding of billionaire liberal financier George Soros.
“We do not want to continue paying the price for other people’s wars and will not allow anyone to endanger the security of our energy supply, because Hungary comes first for us,” Szijjarto added.
Orban is not the only EU leader angered by Kiev’s decision to stop gas transit. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced last weekend that he would veto any future EU aid to Kiev over the move, warning that he could also halt the supply of electricity to Ukraine and cut humanitarian aid deliveries. Slovakia depends on Russian gas to meet about 60% of its demand.
Orban has called for a diplomatic resolution of the Ukraine conflict since its outset, and accused his fellow EU leaders of prolonging the bloodshed by supplying money and weapons to Kiev.
He has also threatened to veto several of the EU’s sanctions packages, agreeing to these measures only after securing concessions from Brussels, including a partial exemption from the EU’s bloc-wide oil embargo and a guarantee that its nuclear sector won’t be affected by future packages.
