Hungarian Conservative

The Ukrainian government is working on blacklisting 14 products by the Hungarian pharmaceutical company Richter. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó believes that this has no professional basis, only political, and spoke up against the planned bannings at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg.

With increasing international pressure, Ukraine is set to abandon its list of ‘international sponsors of the war’. For a significant period, this list featured the largest Hungarian bank, OTP, leading to considerable tension between Hungary and Ukraine.

It seems that even the most vocal supporters of energy sanctions do not want to give up Russian gas at all cost, which has led to some unusual but rather obvious solutions. Today, fossil fuels from Russia are being transported via proxies to pro-sanctions Western Europe. Also, despite loud promises, the vast majority of Western companies operating in Russia have not left the country at all, at least according to a Swiss study from 2022.

OTP Bank made several commitments regarding its future plans in the Russian market in an agreement concluded with the Ukrainian National Agency on Corruption Prevention, mediated by the European External Action Service. The Ukrainian authorities have removed the bank from the list of international sponsors of the war, and stated that now they expect OTP Bank ‘to promptly adhere to the agreement.’

Hungary will not decide on any further funding for arms or anything related to Ukraine until it receives ‘a detailed, clear account of how the approximately 50-70 billion euros sent to Ukraine so far have been spent,’ Minister Szijjártó nailed down this morning, before he left for the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Toledo, Spain.

President Novák and President Zelenskyy engaged in a fruitful one-on-one in Kyiv, which may pave the way for more constructive bilateral relations.

The Hungarian foreign minister announced that Budapest will not consent to further arms shipments to Ukraine as long as Kyiv fails to remove OTP Bank from its list of international war sponsors.

The Prime Minister travelled to Doha on Sunday, where he is taking part in an official visit upon the invitation of Qatar’s Prime Minister and delivered a speech at the Qatari Economic Forum upon the invitation of the Qatari Emir.

The Hungarian government blocking the latest round of sanctions comes only days after the Orbán administration vetoed the release of €500 million of military aid to Ukraine. The blacklisting of the Budapest-based OTP Bank by Ukrainian officials is behind both of these decisions.

The European Peace Facility was posed to transfer €500 million to Ukraine for artillery round purchases, but the aid was blocked by the Hungarian government. The official explanation for the move is that Budapest would like to see the off-budget EU fund focus on more than just Ukraine, but some believe the blacklisting of OTP Bank may be behind it.

Despite OTP’s continued support of Ukraine, the Ukrainian National Agency on Corruption Prevention has recently classified the Budapest-based bank as an ‘international war sponsor’ for not shutting down its Russian subsidiary.