Szijjártó boasts about Hungary saving Patriarch Kirill from sanctions again
According to Yevropeiska Pravda, Telex quoted the Hungarian minister.
In a video message posted on Facebook, Szijjártó said that the 16th package of sanctions against Russia contains exemptions for Hungary.
In particular, according to him, Hungary is allowed to use products made from Russian oil imported by Mol and processed at the Slovnaft refinery in Bratislava, and is also allowed to carry out maintenance and warranty repairs of the third line of the Budapest subway.
Szijjártó then mentioned that Hungary had blocked the introduction of sanctions against 27 individuals and organizations.
“They wanted to re-impose sanctions against Patriarch Kirill, but we did not allow this to happen. If we put church leaders on the sanctions list, we lose the opportunity for the churches themselves to act in the name of peace,” said the Hungarian Foreign Minister.
He also added that Hungary had blocked the inclusion of the Russian Olympic Committee and two Russian football teams on the sanctions list, as, in Budapest's opinion, “this would make a mockery of the entire EU mechanism.”
Péter Szijjártó believes that with this blockade, the Hungarian government “saved the remnants of the EU's honor.”
“The time of sanctions policy is over, and a new reality has emerged. The negotiations between the US and Russia are developing very promisingly, and we sincerely hope that in the future, relations between the US and Russia will improve to an extent that all these sanctions can be forgotten,” the minister added.
As reported, on Wednesday, February 19, European Union ambassadors agreed on the 16th package of sanctions in response to Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine.
Hungary has previously publicly stated how it prevented the imposition of EU sanctions on Patriarch Kirill and Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya.
In addition, when the previous package of sanctions was adopted, Hungary blocked the inclusion of Russian oligarchs Iskandar Makhmudov and Andrei Bokarev on the sanctions list.
