The plan proposed by EU ambassadors to sanction those connected to the Russian justice system who played a part in the sentencing of activist-journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, has been thwarted by Hungary’s veto. The latest set of punitive actions against Russia was set to be finalised by EU foreign ministers on Monday, 22 May—however, with Hungary’s dissent, it could not be moved forward.
Originally, Brussels-based news site EUobserver broke the story which has since been picked up by multiple outlets. In it, they claim that
Hungary has blocked sanctions of ‘at least one’ of the individuals on the proposed blacklist.
However, it is not specified how many individuals are on that list, and how many exactly ‘at least one’ is in actuality.
This comes in the wake of the Orbán administration’s most recent veto, blocking the release of the payment of €500 million to Ukraine by the European Peace Facility. This was meant to be another package of military aid that the Ukrainian armed forces were going to spend on artillery rounds.
Hungary’s reasons behind this veto are clear. What was speculated in the Hungarian press was later confirmed by Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who unequivocally stated at a press conference on 18 May:
‘We can’t give it [the €500m EU payment] a green light as long as [the Hungarian bank] OTP remains blacklisted. The same goes for sanctions as well.’
Thus, EUobserver confidently stipulated that this was the primary reason behind the latest blocking of EU sanctions by the Hungarian government as well. As we reported earlier, the Budapest-based financial institution OTP Bank was put on an official list of ‘international war sponsors’ by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention in Ukraine.
The growing tensions between Hungary and its embattled neighbour to the East can also be attributed to the treatment of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine, an issue raised by the Orbán administration many times before.
The Case of Vladimir Kara-Murza
This latest controversy is centred around political activist and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Kara-Murza was a frequent and fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, often lobbying against his administration to foreign governments. He also served in a leadership position for an NGO called ‘Open Russia’, founded by exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
He was arrested and charged with treason in October 2022. In April 2023, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Evidently, his imprisonment is seen as a clear case of political prosecution and a wild miscarriage of justice by Western countries.
Related articles:
