Hungarian foreign minister accuses Ukraine of hatred towards Hungary

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has once again accused Ukraine of pursuing an anti-Hungarian policy and of hatred towards his country.

Szijjártó said in a conversation with journalists ahead of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting that Hungary does not hate Ukraine, but that the problem is that the Ukrainian state hates Hungary and has been pursuing an anti-Hungarian policy for the past ten years.

The Hungarian foreign minister said that Ukraine was behaving very hostilely towards Hungary and suggested asking the Ukrainians why they had stopped oil supplies to Hungary, why they were jeopardising Hungary's energy security, and why they were not restoring the rights of the Hungarian national minority. He added that he was very interested to see what their answer would be.

Szijjártó also claimed that the European Commission is behaving like a Ukrainian commission, putting Ukraine's interests above those of Hungary.

He stressed that Hungary's decision to suspend support for sanctions and a loan is linked to the fact that Ukraine has decided not to restore oil supplies to Hungary.

Szijjártó added that the ball was in Ukraine's court, as it was the Ukrainians who would decide when to resume oil supplies to Hungary, and that Hungary's position would not change until that happened.

As previously reported by European Pravda, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that on 23 February he would block the European Union's adoption of the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, claiming that Ukraine is deliberately not repairing the Druzhba oil pipeline.

Hungary is also officially refusing to approve the allocation of a €90 billion loan to Ukraine that had previously been agreed in Brussels.

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said ahead of the Foreign Affairs Council meeting that the EU's new, 20th sanctions package against Russia is unlikely to be approved on Monday 23 February, due to Hungary's blockade.