Hungary wants to ease Russian sanctions
In an interview with the Russian channel RT, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Szijjártó said that he believes that there is a need to discuss anti-Russian sanctions instead of automatically renewing them.
At the same time, the head of the Hungarian diplomacy substantiates his position by the fact that the sanctions are allegedly useless.
“Let’s analyze the facts, did the sanctions help the European economy or the Russian economy or, conversely, helped to put pressure on the Russian economy, whether they helped to fulfill the Minsk agreement? By answering these questions, we need to make decisions about our future,” - Szijjártó said.
At the same time, Szijjártó said that he is against the violation of the EU unity on this issue.
“Now the current government of Italy seems to share our view: there should be no automatic renewal of sanctions, and there is a need for discussion. Since Italy is a strong country and a member of the G7, it will be easier for a smaller country to represent this position along with a larger country,” - Szijjártó said.
Italy intends to discuss the idea of easing sanctions against the Russian Federation during the EU summit on October 18-19.
On July 31, the EU imposed sanctions against the six companies that took part in the construction of the bridge linking Russia to the annexed Crimea.
The current Italian government has openly declared its policy of lifting the EU's sanctions against Russia.
Earlier, Hungary threatened to slow down the integration of Ukraine into the EU after a scandal with the issuance of Hungarian passports to Ukrainians at the consulate in the town of Berehove.