The ‘witch hunt’ against Hungarian companies in Ukraine is ongoing as authorities are preparing to withdraw the permits of a dozen pharmaceuticals sold by Hungarian pharmaceutical company Richter, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday, 22 April.

Minister Szijjártó told a press conference on the sidelines of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg that

the bloc was ‘preparing for a world war’ and putting enormous pressure on Hungary in the process.

Apart from the €500 million in aid to Ukraine, ‘which Hungary blocked’, the EU was planning to fund the Member States’ weapon deliveries with another €1.5 billion from the European Peace Facility, he pointed out.

‘Hungary’s stance is unchanged and clear: until we receive a guarantee from the Ukrainian side that they will end the witch hunt against Hungarian companies active in Ukraine—and will not restart it —we cannot consent to such decisions,’ he said.

Noting that Ukraine had earlier black-listed OTP Bank as an international sponsor of the war, Szijjártó said discrimination against Hungarian companies was unacceptable and the procedures were unfounded.

‘Just as the OTP issue seems to be resolved’, Kyiv is preparing to withdraw permits on the sale of Richter’s 14 pharmaceutical products in the country, he stressed. This procedure was similarly unfounded, he added. ‘Richter has not breached any rules or sanctions in Ukraine…conducting operations in Russia does not violate any laws. The pharmaceutical industry is not in any way under sanctions.’

The minister also noted that that when they asked the Ukrainian government to remove OTP from the list, they were told the matter was independent from politics. Later, the government decided to scrap the list altogether, which 'dented' the argument's credibility, he noted.

Szijjártó went on to say that since it appeared that a political decision had been made rather than a professional one, the danger of a similar measure being repeated was real.

'That is why why we have asked our Ukrainian colleagues to…come to Budapest, sit down and work out a solution…So far, the Ukrainian anti-corruption agency has not responded positively to our invitation. We are still waiting for them in Budapest, our colleagues are ready, so it is not up to us whether such an agreement is reached or not,' he concluded.

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Sources: MTI/Hungarian Conservative