Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban confirmed his threat to block the renewal of EU sanctions against Russia.
He indicated that he might lift his veto if Brussels persuades Kiev to restore the transit of Russian gas to Central Europe.
The Europeans "should not try to persuade us not to end the sanctions, but to persuade the Ukrainians to ensure that the sanctions are maintained," he told a radio station close to the government.
"We are asking them to tell the Ukrainians to restore gas supplies," he added, as quoted by AFP.
Last week, the head of European Union (EU) diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, called for sanctions not to be "abandoned".
US President Donald Trump, who counts Viktor Orban as one of his closest allies in the EU, has himself threatened Russia with taxes, tariffs and sanctions in the absence of a swift agreement on the Ukraine conflict.
Since the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, the EU has imposed 15 rounds of sanctions.
The next decision on their renewal must be taken unanimously by the 27 EU member states by 31 January. A meeting of EU foreign ministers is scheduled for 27 January.
But Orban, who has remained close to the Kremlin despite the war, has repeatedly blamed the sanctions for his country's economic difficulties while refusing to provide military aid to Ukraine.
He has also complained, along with Slovak leader Robert Fico, that in early January Ukraine cut off Russian gas supplies to Europe transiting through its territory, following the expiration of a contract signed in 2019.
The cut-off only marginally affects Hungary, which receives most of its Russian gas imports via TurkStream, a pipeline that runs under the Black Sea, but Budapest has said it "does not want to give up" that route.
"It is unacceptable to suffer the economic consequences of sanctions in order to help Ukraine, and it creates problems for us. We will not let that happen," Orban concluded. | BGNES
