Hungary will block the next tranche of European Union military aid to Ukraine and any new sanctions package against Russia unless the Kiev Hungarian bank CAP is removed from its list of war sponsors. This was expressed by Budapest’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. “We cannot give approval as long as the OTP remains on the blacklist,” said Szijjarto, adding that “the same goes for sanctions.”
Hungary this week blocked a bid to allocate an additional 500m euros from the European Peace Facility, a Brussels-administered fund set up in 2021 to help the EU prevent conflict and strengthen security around the world. Following Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the EU agreed to spend 4.6 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine through the Facility, a historic decision to finance weapons for a country at war. Under the program, member states demand the reimbursement of arms, ammunition and other military aid they have sent to Volodymyr Zelensky.
While justifying the move, Hungary asked for guarantees that other regions, such as the Balkans or North Africa, would also receive money from the fund. The comments contrast with the G7 unity demonstration in Hiroshima, where the US and UK announced more sanctions against Moscow. Threats from the Hungarian country risk overshadowing Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers and ongoing negotiations on the eleventh package of sanctions against Russia, discussed in Brussels.
Diplomats from the bloc said behind closed doors that Hungary made it clear that the main reason for the blockade was the blacklist of Ukraine’s OTP bank. EU officials said they were working to resolve the issue, including trying to determine whether Kiev had blacklisted the entire bank or just the Russian branch. Some diplomats expressed their disappointment at the Viktor Orban government’s move, arguing that the two issues should not be linked, noting that other EU companies are also on Kiev’s blacklist. “We will meet with EU member states, including the Ukrainians and Hungary,” said a senior EU official. “Our priority is clear: to help Ukraine win the war and to do so requires military and financial assistance. This is a top priority for the European Union.”
The EU has so far provided a total of about 3.6 billion euros in military support to Ukraine under the European Peace Facility. The EU, as well as NATO member Hungary, has refused to provide military equipment to neighboring Ukraine and has repeatedly criticized EU sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s Russia, despite ultimately supporting all measures agreed so far.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
