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Hungary secures concessions in EU’s 16th sanctions package against Russia
The new sanctions package by the European Union against Russia mostly includes concessions for Hungary, in terms of crude oil products, the operation of the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline, and the maintenance of the Budapest metro, the foreign minister said in New York on Wednesday.
The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó as saying that despite proof in the past three years that sanctions introduced by the EU against Russia failed to work, even causing damage, further punitive measures had been approved with the help of enthusiastic support by the Polish presidency of the EU and Brussels bureaucrats “ignoring the new realities”.
“This sanctions package however includes concessions for Hungary. We have successfully fought for the 16th sanctions package to allow Hungary from now on to use products made from Russian crude oil, processed in the Bratislava refinery of Slovnaft and imported by Mol, which greatly improves Hungary’s energy security,” he said.
“We have also successfully fought to remove equipment needed to maintain the Druzhba pipeline from the sanctions regime. Equipment that is needed for the operation and maintenance of the pipeline’s international measuring station is especially important. As a result, we have ensured that the Druzhba pipeline continues to be operational for physical transport of crude, so we have made another step in the interest of improving energy security,” he added.
He also welcomed the fact that works needed for the maintenance and repair of Budapest’s metro line 3 are allowed to be carried out in line with the warranty. Szijjártó said several European leaders had called for a sanctions package but from the point of Hungary it became “a concessions package” instead in terms of crude oil products, the operation of the Druzhba pipeline, and the maintenance of the Budapest metro.
“Additionally, we have prevented sanctions against 27 persons and organisations. They again wanted to sanction Patriarch Kirill of Moscow which we prevented because if we include religious leaders on the sanctions list then we will lose the chance for churches to take action in the interest of peace,” he said.
“We have also prevented the inclusion of the Russian Olympic Committee and two Russian football teams in the sanctions list because it would have made the entire European Union’s operational mechanism ridiculous if it’s announced at distant places in the world that the EU sanctioned Russian football teams as a result of the Ukraine war,” he said.
Szijjártó said the Hungarian government had “saved what’s left of the the EU’s respect by blocking those measures”.
“The era of sanctions policy is over and a new reality has emerged, with consultations between the United States and Russia developing in a reassuring way and we sincerely hope that American-Russian relations will develop in the near future so that the entire sanctions policy can be forgotten,” he said.
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