Orban threatens EU’s Russia sanctions over Ukraine gas row

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday threatened to block the renewal of EU sanctions on Russia, linking his support to efforts to reopen a gas pipeline across Ukraine to Central Europe.

The European Union has imposed 15 rounds of sanctions on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The EU’s 27 members need to reach a unanimous decision to extend the measures by January 31, and the issue is on the agenda for a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

Ukraine allowed a gas transit agreement with Russia to lapse on New Year’s Day as it tries to starve Moscow of revenues to fund its military and prolong the war that the Kremlin launched in February 2022.

Although the move cut gas supplies to some Central European markets, Hungary was largely unaffected.

But Orban — Russia’s main ally in the EU — has blamed Ukraine for a general increase in energy prices and has claimed his country loses billions of euros because of the sanctions.

“We are asking for help. We are asking them (EU leaders) to make the Ukrainians declare that they will restore the gas route,” the nationalist leader told state radio in his regular interview.

Rather than arguing with him, he said EU leaders should be supporting him and arguing with Ukraine.

“It’s not right that we continue to bear the economic consequences of sanctions to help Ukraine while they are messing with us,” he said, referring to the lapsed pipeline deal.

Orban has repeatedly delayed previous decisions on EU sanctions before eventually approving them.

EU officials said they remained hopeful that the Hungarians will relent again this time around and that no plan B was envisioned.

But Orban’s intransigence has once again left its EU counterparts fuming.

“If Budapest were to indeed block sanctions then we would have a grave issue both internally and in terms of supporting Ukraine and it would put a bomb in transatlantic relations,” one EU diplomat said.

Last week, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas warned against lifting sanctions, arguing it would give away the bloc’s “leverage” over Russia.

Global leaders including US President Donald Trump are putting pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war.

Trump told Fox News on Thursday that Moscow would be hit with “massive” tariffs and taxes and “big sanctions” if it did not settle the war soon.

Hungary — one of Trump’s closest allies in the EU — had previously said it wanted to wait to see Washington’s stance after his inauguration before extending the sanctions.