Orban called for a frank conversation with the United States on the lifting of sanctions against Russia

The EU wanted to "end the war" with sanctions, but the war is still going on and prices are rising, the Hungarian president pointed out, again calling for the lifting of measures against RUSSIA.Borrell called the dynamics of the cost of energy "the price of freedom"

Hungary, along with the rest of Europe, is waiting for clarification from the EU leadership on the duration of international sanctions against Russia against the backdrop of rising energy prices. This was stated by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on his FACEBOOK page (owned by Meta, the company is recognized as extremist in Russia and banned).

“If this continues, it will affect the whole of Europe. The time has come to talk frankly about this with our American friends. Before it's too late," he wrote.

Orban noted that back in June, Brussels promised that sanctions against Russia would “put an end to the war,” but so far “we don’t see the end of the war,” while the cost of electricity has skyrocketed, which causes enormous damage to the countries of the continent. Since the outbreak of hostilities, Russia has generated €158 billion in revenue from rising energy exports, he said, noting that this is more than Russia's entire EXPORT earnings last year.

“We can say with confidence: as a result of sanctions, Europeans have become poorer, and Russia has not fallen to its knees. This weapon had the opposite effect,” the Hungarian President stressed.

The United States began to look for "sanctions gurus" amid their tightening against Russia Politics

Orban has repeatedly criticized international sanctions against Russia before. In mid-September, he pointed out that Hungary is located closer to Russia than the United States, Spain and Belgium, for which "it is easy to pursue a sanctions policy." For Budapest, restrictive measures against Moscow have become painful, they threaten to deprive the country of "a large part of our successes that we have achieved in recent years," he continued, calling European countries "energy dwarfs." To avoid a recession in Europe and restore the economy, sanctions must be lifted, Orban insisted. In this case, the Hungarian president explained, prices would fall by half.

The negative impact of sanctions on the price of energy is also noted in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. Minister Peter Szijjarto called the introduction of additional sanctions in this area a "red line" for Budapest.

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Borrell announced the introduction of "imminent" new sanctions against Russia Politics

The position of Hungary caused criticism within the European Union, in particular, the Minister for European Affairs of the Czech Republic, Mikulas Beck, said that the opinion of Budapest often diverges from the opinion of other European countries. In his opinion, Hungary "has come a long way to the edge of some kind of abyss, and now it has to decide whether to step back or risk and jump, the consequences of the latter I do not want to talk about." Beck explained that Hungary's exit from the EU could be such a "jump".

“Words that sanctions have not shaken Russia are a classic example of Russian propaganda. The sanctions are effective, they have significantly reduced the ability of the Russian military machine to wage war against Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. The representative of the department, Oleg Nikolenko, called the corresponding thesis of Orban "a classic example of Russian propaganda."

The leadership of the European Union recognized the negative impact of sanctions against Russia on the cost of energy in the short term. The HEAD of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, called this situation the "price of freedom" that the West will have to pay. The sanctions will not stop the conflict in Ukraine in a short time, but they are designed to create a lot of economic problems for Russia, he explained, insisting that Europe had no other choice. In the medium term, thanks to restrictive measures, Russia will be in scientific, economic and technological isolation, Borrell is sure.

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