BUDAPEST (dpa-AFX) – Hungary is setting conditions for Ukraine to agree to the extension of EU sanctions against Russia. Kiev should reopen the pipeline that was closed at the beginning of the year and which had previously transported Russian natural gas to Central Europe and thus also to Hungary, said Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Hungarian state radio.
The issue is on the agenda in Brussels next week because the current EU sanctions on Russia will expire on January 31 if they are not extended. Orban emphasized that he had “put the handbrake on” on this issue. Hungary has lost 19 billion euros in the last three years because of the existing sanctions. That is significantly more than Hungarian taxpayers pay to their country’s treasury each year.
Orban gave two further conditions for his yes to Russia sanctions: Ukraine should stop militarily attacking the alternative route through which Hungary currently receives Russian gas, the Turkish Stream, which runs through the Balkans. There were Ukrainian attacks against this pipeline, at the border point on Russian territory.
Third, he demanded guarantees that Ukraine would not stop the flow of oil from Russia, which, like gas, comes to Hungary via Ukraine through the Druzhba pipeline. Hungary sources more than 80 percent of its gas and oil needs from Russia.
Trump also plays a role
Orban maintains good relations with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. He had already signaled in Brussels in December last year that he did not want to make a decision on the extension of EU sanctions for Russia until after the inauguration of the newly elected US President Donald Trump.
The formal decision to extend the EU sanctions must be taken unanimously by the Council of the European Union. So far there has been EU summit usually the order for this. The current rules stipulate that the sanctions must be extended every six months./kl/DP/nas