Foreign Minister: Sanctions against Russia Have Not Achieved Their Goals

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó at the Russian Energy Week last week

Contrary to the expectations of the European Union, the sanctions against Russia have not brought Russia to its knees economically and have not led to a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in an interview with the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

As the Hungarian Foreign Minister stressed, there is a need to discuss the impact of sanctions against Russia.

Who are they hurting more, us or Moscow, do they make sense, have they led to results, have they achieved their goals, namely to bring Russia to its knees economically, and have we come closer to peace?”

The minister noted that this issue is not being discussed in the European Union. The EU sanctions do not cover gas coming from Russia via a pipeline. Regarding gas supplies to Hungary, Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary’s diversification of gas supplies does not mean that Budapest wants to stop Russian supplies.

Diversification for us does not mean replacing one supplier with another. For us, it is primarily about having many different sources,”

he said.

He stressed that the contract with Russia’s Gazprom means 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, while Hungary’s gas demand could be up to 10 billion cubic meters. “Obviously, there is a demand outside the agreements between Gazprom and Hungary that has to be met by purchases from the market or other contracts. Of course, a significant part of the country’s gas demand is covered by Russian supplies,” he added.

Péter Szijjártó also told the news agency that Budapest does not intend to look for a new nuclear fuel supplier for the Paks nuclear power plant and is satisfied with the cooperation with Russian companies Rosatom and TVEL.

As for nuclear industry, there is no need to change anything,”

he said.

“Of course, there are different negotiations going on. If companies approach us, we will receive them and negotiate with them. But they cannot influence our decision-making. We decide ourselves, based on our interests,” he stressed. He noted that Hungary works closely with  Framatome, a French company Rosatom also cooperates with.

The foreign minister also pointed out that

Budapest needed guarantees from Kiev that a situation similar to the case of the Hungarian OTP Bank, when the bank was put on Ukraine’s list of “war sponsors,” would not happen again.

“The Ukrainian reasons for putting OTP on this list are ridiculous. They have nothing to do with reality. It was clear from the start that this was a 100% politicized decision. We therefore now need guarantees that such politicization will not be repeated in the future. If it has happened once, it can happen again,” Szijjártó stressed in the interview.

Via RIA Novosti, Featured image: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter