EU bans Russian flights – Hungary supports the decision

The European Union has decided to ban Russian flights from its airspace and restrict the activities of the Russian central bank, among other additional sanctions after the Russian attack on Ukraine, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said late on Sunday.

Szijjártó said on Facebook after an extraordinary online meeting of EU foreign ministers that an increasingly gruesome war was raging in a neighbouring country, which was bad news for Hungary. “We want peace and the war to stop as soon as possible,” he added. Hungary considers it important to maintain unity in the EU and also to guarantee the security of energy supplies, he said.

The EU also activated the European Peace Facility, enabling the bloc to supply weapons to Ukraine, he said. Szijjártó said Hungary would not supply weapons or send soldiers on a national, bilateral basis. The government had categorically rejected “Leftist proposals” to that end, he said. “The government’s most important task is to protect Hungary and the safety of Hungarians and to prevent the country from being dragged into war,” he said.