Hungarian Foreign Minister threatens to block EU sanctions if Ukraine does not remove OTP Bank from list of war sponsors

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, said that due to Ukraine’s inclusion of the Hungarian OTP Bank in the list of war sponsors, Budapest “will find it very difficult” to agree with the EU on new sanctions against Russia.

Source: The Hungarian Euronews service quoting Szijjártó’s words, reports European Pravda.

Quote: “The fact that OTP Bank was included in the list of international sponsors of the war in Ukraine is scandalous and unacceptable. It is shocking. It is outrageous. It is scandalous,” the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry said during an informal meeting of EU ministers in Stockholm.

Details: He said that the Hungarian bank’s activities comply with international standards and legislation, and its inclusion in the list of sponsors of the war in Ukraine may also affect EU sanctions against Russia.

Quote: “I made it clear at the meeting of foreign ministers that it will be very difficult for us to even start negotiations on the eleventh package of sanctions [against the Russian Federation – ed.] as long as OTP is on this Ukrainian list. We demand that the Ukrainians remove OTP from the list,” stressed Szijjártó.

Last week, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Ukraine announced that it had included OTP Bank – the largest Hungarian bank – in the list of war sponsors due to the position of the bank’s management to continue operations in the Russian Federation and the de-facto recognition of the so-called “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics”.

The bank disagreed with the statements and said that it had reduced its presence in Russia and was looking for opportunities to exit the Russian market.

Background:

According to the media, Hungary wants three people to be removed from the new sanctions list proposed by the European Commission as part of the 11th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation.

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