Russia has declared Hungary an ‘unfriendly country’, retaliatory measures to come
Russia has added Hungary to its list of so-called “unfriendly countries”, the Russian state news agency reported.
Until now, Hungary has not been on the list
The list was created after the outbreak of the war. The countries on it have been subject to a number of sanctions imposed by the Russians, Index reports. One of the most significant of these measures is that countries on the list can only pay for Russian gas in roubles.
The European Union was added to the list as a separate entity from the beginning. However, Hungary was not included by name – yet. Later on, there have been examples of EU countries being added individually: last summer, for example, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and Denmark were added, all of which are members of the EU.
Now, Evgeny Stanislavov, Russia’s ambassador in Budapest, has announced in an interview that Hungary has been added to the list. The diplomat said that Hungary was declared an “unfriendly country” because of the approval of anti-Russian sanctions.
“Retaliatory measures” can be taken against Hungary
Stanislavov added that the Budapest government, however, maintains a “pragmatic” position on the war issue and “does not give in to pressure from NATO and the EU”. “To a certain extent, Budapest has been successful in this, but the fact remains that Hungary has signed up to all the Brussels sanctions packages and must comply with them. That’s why it has been classified as an unfriendly country towards Russia, against which retaliatory measures can be taken,” Evgeny Stanislavov told RIA Novosti.
The Ambassador also said that the sanctions are negatively affecting all areas of Hungarian-Russian cooperation. He complained that they cannot work normally at the Russian Embassy. He added that, nevertheless, the Hungarian side remained open to constructive dialogue and diplomatic channels remained open.
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