Politico: Orban is preparing a political gift to Trump — a $50 billion loan disruption for Ukraine

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants to make a big political gift to his friend, the US presidential candidate from the Republican Party Donald Trump. Itʼs about the disruption of the loan for Ukraine in the amount of $50 billion, which was approved by the EU and the Big Seven.

Politico writes about it.

Viktor Orbán invented a way to allow Donald Trump, in the event of success in the presidential elections, to avoid the participation of the United States in this loan, so that he could show the Republican voters that he will not give a single cent to Ukraine.

Hungary says it will not agree to changing the rules on the loan, which would allow Washington to play a major role in it, until the US elections are held.

The $50 billion loan will be fully covered by revenues from frozen Russian assets. The US White House is insisting that the European Union extend the period of sanctions extension to at least 36 months. Current EU rules are as follows: sanctions are renewed every six months. Therefore, there is an increasing possibility that one country will unfreeze assets and this will force national governments to use taxpayersʼ money to repay the loan.

EU leaders agree to extend sanctions on Russian assets for up to 36 months. All but Viktor Orban. Without its consent, the EU cannot change the rules.

"If we donʼt resolve this [by extending the sanctions], it will cost the EU — Hungary in particular — more money," said one EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

However, according to Politicoʼs sources, itʼs not a big price for Orbán to pay in exchange for Trumpʼs favor.

What preceded

First, the US and the EU were to contribute $20 billion each. The remaining $10 billion will be provided by G7 members Canada, Great Britain and Japan, which are already involved. However, the US later set the blocʼs conditions. EU sanctions, which freeze Russian assets, must be renewed by a unanimous vote of member states every three years, instead of the current six months. Thus, the USA demands guarantees that these assets will remain frozen, as the profits from them should be used to support Ukraine.

Even if the EU does not change the terms of the sanctions, the US will still contribute a certain amount to the planned $50 billion, but it will be smaller. In the event that the EU changes its legislation on sanctions against the Russian Federation and ensures that Russian assets remain frozen, the US will contribute the promised $20 billion.

• In June, the leaders of the "Big Seven" countries agreed to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan, which should be repaid with future earnings from frozen Russian gold and currency reserves.
• The EU wants to allocate up to €40 billion in new loans to Ukraine by the end of the year to avoid Hungaryʼs veto.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.