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EU’s anti-Russian sanctions may stay in force for long - Hungarian top diplomat

"We have to be prepared because I think this is a realistic expectation," he said

UNITED NATIONS, September 20. /TASS/. The European Union’s sanctions imposed on Russia over the situation in Ukraine may stay in force for a long time and the EU’s approach to that matter is not changing, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told TASS on Tuesday.

He said he did not rule out that in case the conflict in Ukraine continued the anti-Russian sanctions would stay in place and countries like Hungary would have to live with it. "We have to be prepared because I think this is a realistic expectation," he noted.

According to the Hungarian top diplomat, "there is no real move, there is no real change" in terms of dialogue about lifting the sanctions as the sanctions are typically extended automatically. Hungary, however is "not very happy with" it, he said.

"We think we should have a serious dialogue about the impacts [of the sanctions] and decisions should made on the highest possible level which is definitely not the case," Szijjarto stressed.

On September 14, the European Union extended individual sanctions against Russian companies and individuals for another six months. The political decision to this effect was reached by the ambassadors of the EU’s 28 nations back on September 6, 2017.

The EU anti-Russian sanctions over development in Ukraine have been in place since March 2014.

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