<figure id="attachment_2951036" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2951036" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-2951036 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/9ba8cd13-hungarian-prime-minister-viktor-orban-01012025.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2951036" class="wp-caption-text">Hungary&#8217;s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Budapest would veto the sanctions until the Druzhba pipeline is reopened. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
BRUSSELS: The EU&#8217;s top diplomat said she did not expect to get a deal on new Russia sanctions today 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&#8217;s fourth anniversary of the Kremlin&#8217;s full-scale.
&#8220;I think there is not going to be progress regarding this today, but we will definitely make this push,&#8221; Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, said at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Hungary&#8217;s Prime Minister Viktor Orban &#8211; the friendliest EU leader to the Kremlin &#8211; said Sunday Budapest would veto the sanctions until the Druzhba pipeline is reopened.
Ukraine says the Druzhba pipeline that crosses its territory to deliver Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary was damaged Jan 27 by Russian strikes.
&#8220;I am astonished by the Hungarian position. We will discuss this with our Hungarian colleagues,&#8221; German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said.
&#8220;I am also confident that, at the end of the day, we will be successful,&#8221; Wadephul said.
Estonia&#8217;s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said &#8220;there is no actually reason to block&#8221; the sanctions as the pipeline closure was Russia&#8217;s fault, not Ukraine&#8217;s.
&#8220;If we are not able to put the sanctions on Russia, then Russia will be happy,&#8221; he said.
Poland&#8217;s top diplomat Radoslaw Sikorski called the Hungarian position &#8220;shocking&#8221;.
Beyond the sanctions, Budapest has also thrown a last minute spanner in the works of a €90-billion (US$106 billion) EU loan for Ukraine desperately needed to keep Kyiv afloat.
Hungary has repeatedly stalled EU measures on Ukraine during the four-year war and Orban&#8217;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 invasion of Ukraine.
Brussels has proposed banning shipping services for Russian crude oil as part of the latest sanctions in a bid to further curb Moscow&#8217;s revenues.

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