Hungary's foreign minister hints that Budapest will continue blocking EU military aid to Ukraine
Hungary’s foreign minister says that his government wants guarantees from Kyiv that a Hungarian bank that was removed from a Ukrainian list of sponsors of Russia’s war will not be placed back on that list in the future
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s foreign minister on Wednesday said that his government wants guarantees from Kyiv that a Hungarian bank, recently removed from a Ukrainian list of sponsors of Russia’s war, will not be placed back on that list in the future — a sign that Budapest may not be ready to lift its veto of a major military aid package to Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that a Monday decision by the Ukrainian National Agency of Corruption Prevention to remove OTP Bank from the list was a “step in the right direction,” but that Hungary required further assurances before it would change its approach to Ukraine in any international settings.
Hungary’s Foreign Ministry has invited Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency to come to Budapest “as soon as possible” to discuss the listing of OTP, Szijjarto said, “so that we can negotiate an agreement that guarantees that no such decision will be taken (again) in the future.”
“If a reassuring agreement is reached there, then we will of course have to consider what steps this justifies on our part,” Szijjarto told a news conference.
Ukraine added OTP to its list of sponsors of the war in May in response to the financial institution continuing its operations in Russia – and thus paying taxes to the central government – after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In response, Hungary has blocked an EU military aid package to Kyiv worth 500 million euros since May, vowing it would not withdraw its veto until OTP was
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