Hungary called the condition for unblocking EU military tranches to Ukraine

Budapest will block EU military tranches to Ukraine until it lifts sanctions on OTP Bank, said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó.

“Until the Ukrainians exclude OTP from the list of international sponsors of the war, Hungary will not be able to take part in decisions related to the European Peace Fund and sanctions,” the minister said.

In addition, the minister mentioned a Washington Post article that claimed, citing secret documents, that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to blow up the Druzhba oil pipeline, which also supplies crudeoil to Hungary.

“Such a threat is contrary to the sovereignty of Hungary, since the security of energy supply is a matter of sovereignty. If someone calls for making the energy supply of Hungary impossible, this strikes at the sovereignty of Hungary,” Szijjártó said.

The National Agency of Ukraine for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) recognized OTP Bank as an "international sponsor of the war" in early May. The decision was made on the basis of "the position of the bank's management to continue operations in RUSSIA and the de facto recognition of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics," the agency said in a statement.

Szijjarto called the decision of the Ukrainian authorities "scandalous and outrageous." If the bank is not removed from the sanctions list, the minister threatened to block the 11th package of sanctions against Russia.

The fact that Hungary blocked the allocation of € 500 million from the European Peace Facility (EPF) for armaments for Ukraine was reported by the ANSA agency on the eve. According to him, the payment was to be made on May 22. However, Budapest demanded guarantees that funds from the EPF would not be used exclusively for arming Kyiv in the future.

The European Peace Fund was created in 2021 to finance military spending "for the purpose of preventing conflicts." Initially, the fund's overall financial ceiling for the period up to 2027 was set at €5.5 billion. In December last year, the EU announced a decision to increase this limit by €2 billion, as the previous one was distributed by almost 90%.

Ukraine received the bulk of the funds from the fund , and Georgia, Moldova, Mozambique and other countries were also among the recipients.

In early May, the European Union approved the transfer of €1 billion from the EPF to Ukraine for joint purchases of ammunition for the country's army. This decision is part of the EU plan to supply Kyiv with shells and increase its own production of them. Brussels intends to send 1 million ammunition from its own warehouses for this amount, and then spend the same amount to replenish its stocks with new shells.

The Russian side has repeatedly criticized the provision of military assistance to Ukraine by the West. The Kremlin believes that such actions bring more "suffering" to the Ukrainian people, but do not affect the goal-setting during the special operation, and also indicate the involvement of Western countries in the conflict.