22 May 2023 12:56

Hungary not the only one with questions about Ukraine financing, anti-Russia sanctions - Borrell

BRUSSELS. May 22 (Interfax) - A new tranche of financial assistance to Ukraine and another package of sanctions against Russia have raised questions of not only Hungary but also some other EU member states, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said.

"That's not only the issue of Hungary. This new package of sanctions has some specific considerations that many countries will want to discuss it," Borrell told reporters ahead of a meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier that Hungary would block another tranche of financial assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 500 million euros because of Kiev's actions.

He also said that Budapest was unwilling to support further EU sanctions on Russia and noted Kiev's increasingly aggressive attitude to its neighbor, the European Union.

Szijjarto gave examples of Ukraine's policy criticized by Budapest. He noted that Kiev had blacklisted the Hungarian OTP bank as an entity doing business with Russia and said that the education rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine were infringed.

"Let me be clear: we cannot support decisions, which require additional economic and financial sacrifices of the EU and its member states as long as OTP remains on the list of international sponsors of conflict. The same applies to sanctions," he said.

The minister also referred to articles in the Washington Post, which referred to U.S. intelligence community documents and said that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had suggested blowing up the Druzhba pipeline that supplies Russian oil to Hungary via Ukraine.