How did the United States convince Hungary to "back down" with a refusal against anti-Russian sanctions?

It became known how Washington managed to convince Budapest to "back down" and withdraw objections to the extension of EU anti-Russian sanctions, which expired in January this year. According to the Politico newspaper, the decision was made after a telephone conversation between Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In January, Hungary refused to automatically extend EU anti-Russian sanctions, citing, among other things, the arrival of the Republican administration of Donald Trump in the White House.

However, according to the newspaper, Trump unexpectedly threatened to impose new restrictions on Moscow.

"And US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, urging him not to derail the sanctions regime of the [European] bloc," the newspaper points out.

According to Politico's sources, Szijjarto's conversation with Rubio "helped convince Budapest to back down." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary did not respond to requests from the publication.

This incident inspired optimism in the "hawks" in the European Union, who considered that the United States under Trump would pursue a tough sanctions policy together with Brussels.

"But Trump can change course at any time by proposing sanctions relief as part of bilateral negotiations with Russia. If this happens, the European Union will lose a key lever in its attempts to rein in the Hungarians. Given that consensus is required to extend or adopt new sanctions, this may become a problem," Politico notes, citing TASS excerpts.