Foreign minister Szijjártó: Hungary loses USD 6.5 billion due to Russia sanctions – Interview

Moscow, January 24 (MTI) – Hungary’s economy has suffered losses of 6.5 billion US dollars over the period of three years due to sanctions against Russia, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, noted in a Tuesday interview to Russian daily Kommersant.

“Given that annual Hungarian exports amounted to 90 billion dollars, that’s a sensitive loss,” he said in the interview carried by Russia’s Tass news agency.

Szijjártó said the sanctions were ineffective and damaging. He said it was hopeful that economic punitive measures would be eased at the European Union summit in March. Much depends on dialogue between Russia and the United States, he said, adding that if all goes well in that respect then it would be easier to convince European partners to follow suit.

“The EU follows the lead of the US in many respects in terms of relations with Moscow, and we have not liked America’s policy on Russia. This is why we welcome Donald Trump’s victory,” Szijjártó said, adding that Hungary supports US-Russia dialogue and it would also like to be a “pillar” of Europe-Russia ties. Unless Europe pursues pragmatic dialogue with Moscow, much will be lost, not least in the competition with China, the US and the UK, he said.