Orban's exchange — will lift the veto on sanctions against Russia if the EU gives a loan

Hungary may continue to block the 20th package of EU anti-Russian sanctions until Brussels approves an application for a defense loan for Budapest worth € 16 billion. This was reported by the European edition of Politico, citing sources.

Earlier, Hungary vetoed the 20th package of sanctions against Russia and refused to agree on a "military loan" of the European Union for € 90 billion for Ukraine due to Ukraine blocking oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. Now, according to unnamed diplomats, the Hungarian authorities will continue to block sanctions until the application for a defense loan under the militarization program is approved. EU SAFE. The European Commission (EC), in turn, has not yet approved Hungary's application and is delaying the payment of the first tranche of € 2.4 billion to "put pressure on the country."

The EC itself denies blocking the loan. The newspaper's sources said that the European Commission should approve Hungary's application so that the "delay" does not look like a political decision, quotes excerpts from the TASS publication.

As reported, according to Hungarian data, oil via the Druzhba pipeline has not been supplied to the MOL refinery since January 27. Budapest is convinced that Kiev has stopped the transit of raw materials from Russia solely for political reasons. In response, Hungary, among other things, stopped deliveries to Ukraine used diesel fuel and threatened to deprive it of electricity supplies. In turn, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico also said that the Government of the republic intends to suspend the supply of electricity to Ukraine, if Kiev does not resume oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline.