The United States Senate on Wednesday halted the sale of the HIMARS missile system to Hungary in retaliation for the country’s blockade on Sweden’s accession to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
The transaction, worth $ 735 million (about 678 million euros), was blocked by Republican Senator James Risch, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
“Some time ago I directly expressed my concern to the Hungarian government about their refusal to go ahead with the vote for Sweden to join NATO,” Risch said in remarks to the US daily The Washington Post.
“As we are in June and everything remains the same, I have decided that this new sale of US military equipment to Hungary will be suspended,” said the Idaho senator, urging Budapest to unblock its position if it wants to. receive the order, which contains 24 batteries of HIMARS missile launchers and more than 100 missiles and other supporting parts and accessories.
All major arms sales require the approval of the US president and the heads of the Senate and House of Representatives for State Affairs in order for the State Department to make the sale official.
In this case, Risch’s “no” will prevent the deal from closing.
Sweden and Finland’s request to join NATO (the Western military defense bloc) after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24 last year – ending centuries of neutrality – is regarded as one of the geopolitical blows which Russian President Vladimir has inflicted on Putin.
However, the accession process has been slower than expected due to the obstacles put up by Turkey and Hungary – Moscow’s main ally in the West.
Initially, the two Nordic countries planned to join the Atlantic Alliance at the same time, but the blockade of Ankara and Budapest only allowed Finland to do so.
In the case of Sweden, Turkey accuses the government of not doing enough to fight Kurdish opposition groups – which it considers terrorists – or suppress anti-Islam protests in which copies of the Quran are burned, while Hungary criticizes the attacks by Stockholm on Hungarian Laws. in the framework of the European Union, which prevented Budapest from receiving millions of euros in European funds for the recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: DN
