European Union Extends Existing Sanctions Against Russia, Announces New Ones

(Patria) - The European Union has extended harsh sanctions against Russia for another six months due to its aggression against Ukraine.

Hungary, which had threatened a veto and the annulment of all sanctions imposed so far, has withdrawn all its reservations.
The EU announced that it will impose new, even harsher sanctions on Vladimir Putin's regime.

The drama over the extension of the sanctions regime ended with Viktor Orban's hardline positions being withdrawn.

It is not known whether he got anything in return.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has imposed 15 rounds of sanctions on Russia, including sectoral trade bans and measures freezing the assets of the Russian central bank.

The EU uses the windfall profits from these assets to finance a $50 billion G7 loan to Ukraine. In the long term, the assets themselves are seen as a potential source of funding for Ukraine's reconstruction after a peace agreement.

Last week, the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, warned that lifting the sanctions would remove the bloc's "leverage" over Russia, especially as diplomats hope it will give them a negotiating tool in any future Ukrainian peace talks.

Since January 1 this year, Kyiv has halted the flow of Russian gas to Europe through the Druzhba pipeline, claiming that Europe had already decided to abandon Russian gas and that this would finalize it.

Hungary, however, demanded that Brussels persuade Ukraine to continue gas transit through the Russian pipeline that crosses Ukraine to reach Central Europe. Budapest used its veto power in EU discussions on the framework of Russian sanctions as a means of pressure.

On Friday, the country blocked any agreement when EU ambassadors met in Brussels and said it would consult on the issue with its American partners.

Prime Minister Orban then said that EU sanctions against Russia had failed and that "the time for change has come," claiming they had caused Hungary €19 billion in financial damage. However, he did not prove how he arrived at that figure.