US sanctions are here: Hungarian head of the Russian spy bank is also on the list
We reported that the United States could announce sanctions against Hungarian individuals on Wednesday. It really did happen, and Imre Laszlóczki, Vice President of the International Investment Bank (IIB, also known as the Russian spy bank), was also added to the US sanctions list.
Hungarians on the US sanctions list
Imre Laszlóczki was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Investment Bank (IIB) representing Hungary in September 2019, 24.hu reports. Imre Laszlóczki graduated from the Diplomatic Faculty of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1987 with a degree in Arabic and English and a diploma in Public Administration in 2003.
Since 1986, he has worked in various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving in several countries. In 2018 and 2019, he was a coordinator in the Deputy State Secretariat for the Development of Eastern Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The list of sanctioned individuals also includes Nikolay Kosov, President of the International Investment Bank, and Georgy Potapov, Deputy Chairman of the Bank’s Board of Governors, both based in Budapest, as well as the Bank itself.
IIB is a Budapest-based financial institution. Almost 50 percent is owned by the Russian state and 25.27 percent by the Hungarian state, Telex reports.
Background to the press conference
David Pressman, the US Ambassador to Hungary, held a press conference starting today at 5 PM. As we wrote before, 444.hu reported, citing several independent diplomatic sources, that the US government is planning a new measure to punish the Hungarian government. They wrote that sanctions could be imposed on influential individuals, similar to the 2014 expulsions. However, the embassy has not previously released any information on the subject of the US ambassador’s press conference.
Bloomberg had already reported on Wednesday that the US could sanction officials of a Hungarian bank. However, the Hungarian embassy told the news portal that “they are unable to share information on sanctions, but there is no indication that the press conference was related to US deliberations on sanctions”.
Pressman: We are concerned
“We are concerned that the Hungarian government continues to maintain close ties with Russia and to support the Russian war machine through various economic channels,” Telex quotes the Ambassador as saying.
With the support of the US Embassy, a nationwide poster campaign was launched this week in Hungary, calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. The posters are saying “Ruszkik, haza!” (“Russians, go home!”) and “There can only be peace in Ukraine if the Russian occupying army withdraws”.
To this, Gergely Gulyás, the PM’s chief of staff, responded on Wednesday by saying that the US embassy had launched a “pro-war campaign”.
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