The EU froze 14.5 billion assets of Russian figures as part of sanctions adopted in response to the war in Ukraine, but several countries, including Hungary, did not contribute to the effort, claimed on Sunday a European commissioner. “We must put very strong pressure” on Hungary, because “we can assume that (its) very close ties with Russia may prevent it from acting”, declared the European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders , in an interview with the LCI television channel.
Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has forged close ties with Russian President Vladmir Putin in recent years and this collaboration has been maintained despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Budapest thus announced at the end of August an agreement with the Russian giant Gazprom to receive additional deliveries, at a time when other European countries are faced with a sharp reduction in the quantities supplied. The Hungarian government is also cooperating with the Russian conglomerate Rosatom for the construction of two new nuclear reactors.