LONDON, March 20. /TASS/. Budapest warned that the West’s anti-Russian sanctions may hamper the peace process in Ukraine.
Budapest’s "reservations" about the anti-Russian sanctions have "intensified," Hungary’s EU minister Janos Boka told The Financial Timeshttps://www.ft.com/ (FT) in an interview. According to him, the restrictions threaten to undermine the peace process. "We do not want decisions on the sanctions regime to become an obstacle to the ceasefire and peace negotiations. We should be talking about the extent to which sanctions help or hinder this specific peace process," the minister said.
Earlier, a high-ranking EU official told reporters in Brussels that differences remain between Hungary and the other members of the bloc as to the wording of a concluding document on Ukraine being drafted for the EU’s next summit on March 20-21. He did not rule out that, like after the latest summit, 26 EU member countries, without Hungary, would sign off on a statement on Ukraine.
At the Special European Council on March 6, Hungary refused to sign on to the EU’s statement on Ukraine. The summit’s conclusions were published as a text that was approved by the other 26 members of the bloc and will be discussed again at another summit on March 20-21. In the statement, the 26 EU leaders pledged further aid to Ukraine, including military support, and more efforts to put pressure on Russia, including through sanctions.