The US recently sanctioned Gazprombank, used by several European nations for energy payments.Continue reading
The Hungarian government has submitted a request for exemption from sanctions to the competent U.S. authority in order to allow the states in the region to continue to pay for natural gas supplies from Russia’s Gazprombank, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced in Brussels.
The minister said at a press conference after the Meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Foreign Ministers session that the U.S. diplomatic chief himself had indicated that they were willing to hold some kind of consultations with the allies on the issue of sanctions against Gazprombank.
He reported that Hungary and two other NATO member states, as well as Serbia, could face serious difficulties from this new U.S. punitive measure because of the infrastructure,
as the cessation of Russian gas imports would make it impossible to ensure secure supplies to the countries concerned.
“We are connected to six out of the seven neighbors by gas pipelines for nothing if there are no investments in the region around us that would allow us to supply the country without Russian gas,” he underlined. “That is why I indicated to the U.S. Secretary of State that this was a measure that could potentially get our allies in trouble,” he added. Mr. Szijjártó then informed that the day before, the government had submitted a request to the relevant U.S. authorities to allow Gazprombank an exemption from paying for natural gas deliveries.
FM Szijjártó announced that the Hungarian government has submitted an exemption request to U.S. authorities regarding sanctions on Gazprombank to ensure uninterrupted natural gas payments for Hungary and neighboring countries. He highlighted that this sanction could severely… pic.twitter.com/JlzRO029y8
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) December 4, 2024
He stressed that this would not be unprecedented, as several Russian banks enjoy similar exemptions in the U.S., mainly because of Russia’s imports of uranium to power nuclear power plants. “And I have asked for a similar possibility for countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe,” the minister noted. He added that he had subsequently spoken by telephone to the energy ministers of Serbia, Slovakia and Türkiye, with whom he would coordinate their action.
He also underlined that Hungary continues to supply one third of Ukraine’s electricity imports and will continue to do so.
The politician also emphasized that he would travel from Brussels to Washington and from there to Malta to attend a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), where both Western allies and Eastern countries, including the United States and Russia, will be present.
He highlighted that he would hold talks with his Turkish counterpart in Valletta and stressed that Ankara’s position on the main issues of the war in Ukraine is similar to that of Budapest. “As far as diplomatic solutions or keeping the channels of communication open are concerned, we are pretty much in the same boat there,” he said.
“And the peace mission will continue, of course, because in this situation we need to step up efforts and we need as many negotiations as possible, as many actions as possible to keep the channels of communication open, because I think the main objective now is to avoid any situation by January 20 (inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States) where, even through misunderstanding or lack of communication, irreversible processes are set in motion,” Péter Szijjártó concluded.
Via MTI; Featured image via Facebook/Szijjártó Péter