2023-05-19 00:38:57
BBudapest will not support further EU aid to Ukraine unless Kiev renounces its “increasingly hostile” attitude towards the country, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said, quoted by Reuters.
The warning comes after Hungary blocked a new 500 million euro military aid package from the so-called European Peace Support Fund.
The decision to block the eighth tranche of the fund, which has raised 5.6 billion euros and which finances foreign soldiers, was dictated by “Kiev’s increasingly warlike attitude towards its neighbor in the European Union”, he said said the top diplomat at a media briefing in Vienna.
“It’s fair to say we’ve had enough,” Scijarto said.
The minister outlined a number of outstanding issues between Hungary and Ukraine, including Ukraine’s decision to add OTP Bank Nyrt, Hungary’s largest lender, to the blacklist of “international war sponsors” due to its business ties with the Russia.
“I want to state clearly that while Ukraine keeps the OTP on its list of international war sponsors, we cannot support decisions that require new economic and financial sacrifices by the European Union and its member states. The same goes for anti-Russian sanctions,” Szijjártó said, noting that the bank “has not violated any law in Ukraine, has not violated any international law, nor has it violated any sanctions measures.”
Other issues listed by the diplomat include leaked information about alleged plans by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (mentioned by his foreign minister) to blow up the Yuzhna Druzhba pipeline linking Russia to Hungary through Ukrainian territory, as well as limiting the rights to education of the Hungarian ethnic minority of Kiev.
The latter issue has been a major issue in bilateral relations for years, with Budapest seeing the rights of ethnic Hungarians violated. Kiev has repeatedly accused Budapest of meddling in the country’s internal affairs, with Hungary’s practice of issuing passports to ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine causing diplomatic incidents.
Hungary has taken a neutral position on the ongoing hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, refusing to provide military aid to Kiev or even allowing the transit of weapons to Kiev through the territory of the country. Budapest also opposes these EU anti-Russian sanctions, which would hit the Hungarian economy, including the conventional and nuclear energy sectors.
FM Szijjártó: @ZelenskyyUa
The threat to blow up the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary not only threatens Hungary’s oil supplies, but also threatens national sovereignty, so any attempt to disrupt this pipeline is an attack on Hungary’s independence and security !
FM Szijjártó: @ZelenskyyUa threatening to detonate the Druzhba oil pipeline to Hungary not only jeopardizes Hungary’s oil supply but threatens national sovereignty, therefore any attempt to disrupt it is an attack on Hungary’s independence and security. pic.twitter.com/8hQ90Hpraa
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) May 17, 2023
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