Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wrote a letter to the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, threatening to block all decisions regarding the financing of Ukraine, the opening of negotiations on EU accession or further sanctions against the Russian Federation, if the EU leaders do not revise the strategy of supporting Kyiv.
This is written by Politico, which has read the letter.
Orban says no decisions on Ukraine funding or new anti-Russian sanctions can be made until a "strategic discussion" takes place at the December summit in Brussels.
He also questions why Europe should continue to support Ukraine if "even the US, which has provided the bulk of military aid to Kyiv, could potentially lose its ability to continue funding due to the political impasse."
According to one of the diplomats of the EU countries, who wished to remain anonymous, Orbán "mined" the entire EU decision-making process regarding Ukraine in order to put pressure on the European Commission [which should allocate €13 billion to Hungary].
The diplomat noted that in other cases, Budapest abstained during key votes and allowed the EU to introduce sanctions against Russia, but in this case they may oppose it.
"For Hungary, this is not a question of neutrality. Itʼs about levers of influence," the diplomat said.