Hungary and Slovakia will not support the new package of sanctions against Russia. Reasons

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary and Slovakia will not support the 18th package of sanctions against Russia. Both countries are against the European Unionʼs plans to completely abandon imports of Russian energy resources.

He said this at his press conference.

"We will do this because the European Union [...] wants to prohibit member states, including Hungary and Slovakia, from buying cheap Russian natural gas and cheap Russian oil, as they did before," Szijjártó said.

On June 17, the European Commission proposed to completely stop imports of oil and gas from Russia by the end of 2027. Under the proposal, new contracts for the import of Russian gas would be prohibited from January 1, 2026.

Today, the EU Council will consider the 18th package of sanctions against Russia, previously proposed by the European Commission. Among other things, it proposes to lower the ceiling price set by the G7 and the EU for Russian crude oil from $60 to $45 per barrel.

• Politico previously reported that the European Union will delay plans to cap Russian oil prices at $45 per barrel due to the conflict between Israel and Iran, fearing that events in the Middle East could lead to higher energy prices.
• Following the US attacks on Iranʼs nuclear facilities on Sunday, June 22, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for the proposed ban on Russian energy imports to be removed from the agenda.

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