Hungary is yet to sign the agreement reached by EU leaders earlier this week on the partial ban on Russian oil. The country first wants the well-known Russian patriarch Kirill from the sanctions list. Budapest was already cross about the ban on Russian oil.
The EU countries reached at the beginning of this week an agreement on a sixth sanctions package against Russia because of the war in Ukraine. A partial ban on oil from Russia was part of that. In addition, a number of Russians were placed on a blacklist.
One of them is Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia. He glorifies war and is an ardent supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian Orthodox churches in other countries have already broken up with him, as has the worldwide leader of Orthodox churches. In Russia he is still the head of the church.
Hungary wants the spiritual leader of the blacklist. Otherwise, the country will not sign up for the sixth sanctions package, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. Criticism from European diplomats that the deal is being held up as a result, the spokesman waved away. “Our position on sanctions against Patriarch Kirill has been known for a long time and no one has spoken out against it at the meeting,” the spokesperson said.
During the negotiations, Hungary was also opposed to the oil ban for a long time. The country says it has almost no alternatives to Russian oil and refused to support the proposal. In order to accommodate Budapest, the 27 EU leaders have decided to go for a partial ban and exempt oil coming through pipelines to Europe from the sanctions. Hungary is not located by the sea and it is therefore more difficult to obtain other oil.
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