20 Feb, 01:26

Top Hungarian diplomat, US treasury secretary discuss lifting some anti-Russian sanctions

The sooner the Ukrainian conflict ends, the sooner international life returns to normal, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said

BUDAPEST, February 20. /TASS/. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto met with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of lifting some of the anti-Russian sanctions in the energy sector.

"Naturally, we touched upon the issue of the sanctions that were imposed by the [US President Joe] Biden administration and that are harming Hungary’s energy security," he said in an interview with the M1 television company.

"It is clear for us that the future of the sanction policy depends on how soon and which way the war in Ukraine ends. The sooner this war is stopped the sooner international life gets back to normal and the sooner we will be able to get rid of various sanctions," he stressed.

"Obviously, a situation when international politics is reduced to sanctions cannot be considered normal. So, we will probably leave sanction regimes in the past," Szijjarto added.

About US sanctions

The sanctions in the energy sector that were imposed by the Biden administration during its last months have seriously hit Hungary, which continues to import most of its oil and gas from Russia and builds the Paks-2 NPP on Rosatom’s design.

In late November 2024, the United States imposed sanction on Russia’s Gazprombank through which Hungary paid for Russian oil and gas. Moscow and Budapest had to look for alternative ways of making transaction. The top Hungarian diplomat said back then that Hungary viewed the US sanctions against Gazprombank not merely as an unfriendly step but as a "political revenge" from the Biden administration in respect of a number Central and Eastern European countries.

On January 10, 2025, the Biden administration announced a large-scale package of sanctions against the Russian oil and gas sector, covering Russian companies Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, Gazprom's Portovaya and the Novatek-led Vysotsk LNG facilities. Moreover, 183 tankers, traders, oilfield service firms, heads of a number of oil companies, and representatives of the Russian Energy Ministry’s leadership were blacklisted.

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