Hungary and Slovakia announced they would block the EU's 18th sanctions package against Russia during the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday, adding that the move came in response to the European Commission's RePowerEU plan that aims to cease all energy imports from Russia.
"They demanded today that we create a sanctions package that is as strong, as comprehensive, and as severely punishing the energy sector as possible. However, we, together with Slovakia, prevented the adoption of the sanctions package today. We did this because, in parallel with all this, the EU wants to prohibit the member states, Hungary and Slovakia, from buying cheap Russian natural gas and cheap Russian crude oil, as we have been doing so far," Szijjártó said.
