EU ire as Hungary stalls new Russia sanctions

BRUSSELS: The EU's top diplomat said she did not expect to get a deal on new Russia sanctions on Monday after Hungary vowed to block them unless Ukraine re-opens a key oil pipeline. The 27-nation bloc has been pushing to impose a new round of economic punishment on Moscow for Tuesday's fourth anniversary of the Kremlin's full-scale attack. 'I think there is not going to be progress regarding this today, but we will definitely make this push,' Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, said at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban — the friendliest EU leader to the Kremlin — said on Sunday that Budapest would veto sanctions until the Druzhba pipeline is re-opened. 'As long as it doesn't happen, there will be no change in the Hungarian position,' Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told journalists as he arrived for the Brussels meeting.
Ukraine says the Druzhba pipeline, that crosses its territory to deliver Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary, was damaged January 27 by Russian strikes. 'I am astonished by the Hungarian position. We will discuss this with our Hungarian colleagues,' German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said. But he added he was 'confident that, at the end of the day, we will be successful.'
Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said 'there is actually no reason to block' sanctions as the pipeline closure was Russia's fault, not Ukraine's. 'If we are not able to put the sanctions on Russia, then Russia will be happy,' he said. Poland's top diplomat Radoslaw Sikorski called the Hungarian position 'shocking'. Beyond the sanctions, Budapest has also thrown a last minute spanner in the works of a 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) EU loan for Ukraine desperately needed to keep Kyiv afloat. That move drew a stinging rebuke from Brussels as it appeared Orban was backtracking on an agreement reached in December among EU leaders.
'We expect that the commitment by all leaders is respected and honoured by all the leaders,' EU spokeswoman Paula Pinho said. 'I think it's legitimate to expect the respect of such a high-level commitment.' Hungary has repeatedly stalled EU measures on Ukraine during the four-year war and Orban's hardline stance comes as he fights for political survival in an election this April. The EU has already imposed 19 rounds of sanctions on Moscow over its attack on Ukraine. Brussels has proposed banning shipping services for Russian crude oil as part of the latest sanctions in a bid to further curb Moscow's revenues.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday denounced the 'utter barbarity' of Russia under President Vladimir Putin in a speech a day ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine. 'This country, under this leadership, is currently at the lowest point of utter barbarity, and no one should have any doubt about what kind of regime and barbarity we are dealing with out of Russia these days,' Merz said in Berlin.
Meanwhile, Russian strikes killed three people and wounded several others overnight, regional authorities said on Monday, as Moscow continued its assaults on the eve of the war's four?year anniversary. In the south, two people were killed when Russian drones hit industrial, energy and civilian infrastructure in the Odesa region, regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram. At least three people were wounded, he added.
In Zaporizhzhia, a drone attack on industrial facilities killed a 33?year?old man and wounded another, according to regional chief Ivan Fedorov. The city, a major industrial hub near the front line, faces regular strikes as Russian forces intensify pressure on Ukraine's southeast. Further north, a missile hit Kharkiv's Kholodnogirsky district, mayor Igor Terekhov said early on Monday. He gave no immediate casualty figures as emergency teams worked to assess the damage.
The attacks followed a barrage of Russian missiles and drones that struck energy infrastructure, railways and residential areas across Ukraine on Sunday, with Kyiv among the hardest hit. One man was killed and more than a dozen people were wounded in and around the capital in that attack. — AFP