The Hungarian threat illustrated the outsized power held by any single EU member to veto bloc-wide decisions. It also underscored Hungary’s dependent relationship with Russian energy and the broader tensions between Budapest and Kyiv as Russia’s invasion entered its fourth year.
Hungary’s Veto Threatens EU Response to Russia
Hungary said it would block the European Union’s 20th sanctions package against Russia unless Russian oil shipments resumed through a pipeline crossing Ukraine. The announcement, delivered by Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó in a video posted to social media, threatened to derail the bloc’s coordinated response to Moscow’s invasion.
Szijjártó declared: “We will not consent to the adoption of the 20th package of sanctions, because we have previously made it clear that until the Ukrainians resume oil shipments to Hungary, we will not allow decisions that are important to them to be approved.”
Hungary also announced it would block a 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) EU loan package intended to help Ukraine meet military and economic needs for the next two years. The loan required unanimous approval from all 27 EU member states, and Hungary’s veto threatened to block it.
The Oil Dispute
The Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude across Ukrainian territory into Central Europe, had been severed since January 27. Ukrainian officials attributed the disruption to Russian drone attacks; Russia did not publicly address the allegation.
Parallel pressure came from Slovakia, another EU and NATO member that imports Russian oil. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that Slovakia would cease sending diesel shipments to Ukraine and cut off emergency electricity supplies to its neighbor if oil deliveries were not restored by a specified deadline.
Russia had pounded Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with missiles and drones throughout one of the country’s harshest winters in recent memory, leaving civilians without heat, electricity, and clean water. The actions by Hungary and Slovakia compounded the burden at a moment of vulnerability for Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Response
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry rejected the moves as blackmail. The ministry said: “Such actions, in the context of massive and targeted Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and Moscow’s attempts to deprive Ukrainians of electricity, heating, and gas during extreme cold weather, are provocative, irresponsible, and threaten the energy security of the entire region.”
Ukraine’s statement characterized the Hungarian and Slovak positions as undermining regional stability.
Hungary’s Strategic Alignment
Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has maintained the closest relationship with the Kremlin of any EU leader. Orbán has argued that Russian fossil fuels are essential to Hungary’s economy and that switching to alternative energy sources would cause immediate economic collapse—a position energy experts dispute.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, nearly every European country has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports. Hungary and Slovakia, however, received temporary exemptions from an EU policy banning Russian oil, allowing them to maintain and in some cases increase supplies from Moscow.
Orbán has frequently threatened to obstruct the EU’s efforts to sanction Moscow over its invasion and has consistently opposed measures to restrict Russia’s energy revenues, which help finance the war.