Fidesz official: scrap sanctions on Russian energy

Energy-related sanctions against Russia should be scrapped “and new sanctions shouldn’t even be mentioned”, a state secretary of the foreign ministry said on Monday.

“It is outrageous, but Josep Borrell lied,” Tamás Menczer said in a video on Facebook.

The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said recently that the EU sanctions against Russia were not aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, Menczer said. At the same time, the European External Action Service which he heads “has clearly written that the sanctions policy’s goal was to stop the war,” he said.

“This would be absurd were the situation not so grave,” Menczer said. Gas and oil revenues made up 35 percent of Russia’s GDP in January-September last year, Menczer said. That ratio jumped to 43 percent in the same period in 2022, he said. “Russia is raking in record revenues, while we in Europe are paying a sanctions surcharge on energy and suffering from sanctions-related inflation,” he said.