Hungary’s government announced Tuesday that the country will not support any arms financing to Ukraine as long as Kiev keeps OTP, Hungary’s largest bank, on the list of companies supporting Russia and subject to sanctions.
“Our proposal is clear: as long as the Public Prosecutor’s Office remains on the list, Hungary will not support any European Union (EU) funding for arms transfers to Ukraine,” said Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
The minister added that it will not only be the 500 million euros that the Hungarian government has already blocked, but also future financing proposals.
The government of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is considered the EU country with the closest relations with Moscow and criticizes the sanctions imposed on Russia, despite having approved all the packages imposed by the community bloc after the military invasion of Ukraine.
At the end of June, EU countries agreed to increase the European Peace Support Fund (EPFF) by another 3.5 billion euros, which has been used mainly to finance arms destined for Ukraine.
Due to Hungary’s veto, the EU could not reach an agreement on the award of the eighth tranche of €500 million to Ukraine from this fund.
Szijjártó stressed that the Ukrainian arguments for keeping the Hungarian bank on the list of entities sanctioned for promoting the Russian war “are ridiculous.”
The OTP itself claims that its share in the Russian banking sector is only 0.1%. Referring to Sweden’s accession process to NATO, Szijjártó assured that Budapest will not delay the process if Turkey gives the green light to the Nordic country’s entry.
“If there is any progress, we will naturally keep our promise that Hungary will not delay the entry of any country,” he said, before taking part in a meeting between the Hungarian-Jordanian intergovernmental commission.
The head of Hungarian diplomacy said that he was personally “in close contact” with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, with whom he will hold talks at a time when Ankara is negotiating with Stockholm and NATO on the issue.
The minister has also indicated that the Government has already presented in Parliament the text that supports Sweden’s entry into NATO.
Hungary and Turkey remain the only Atlantic Alliance countries that have yet to ratify membership, which requires unanimous approval.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: TSF
