The foreign ministers of EU Member States agreed on Monday to extend economic sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine by another six months, addressing concerns raised by Hungary.
This extension “will continue to deprive Moscow of the revenues necessary to finance its war. Russia must pay for the damages it causes,” said EU High Representative Kaja Kallas on social media.
First imposed in 2014 following the Russian invasion of Crimea, these sanctions have been significantly expanded since February 2022 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They need to be renewed unanimously every six months and were set to expire on January 31.
Hungary, led by Viktor Orban, the European leader most sympathetic to Moscow’s stance, had once again threatened to veto the extension of the sanctions. Initially, Budapest called for the deferral until Donald Trump’s inauguration. However, when Trump began threatening Moscow with new tariffs unless it reached an agreement “now” with Kyiv, Hungary demanded European guarantees on Central and Eastern European energy supplies.
According to diplomats, the EU agreed to read a statement on Hungary’s energy security during Monday’s meeting. Energy supply concerns have arisen in Hungary and Slovakia due to the cessation of Russian gas deliveries at the start of the year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed willingness to maintain the transit of Azerbaijani gas to Central and Eastern Europe, provided that the revenues do not go to Russia, directly or indirectly.
To date, the EU has adopted 15 sanctions packages against Moscow. One of the most significant measures is the freezing of the Russian central bank’s assets in the EU, largely held by Euroclear in Belgium. Recently, the EU has used the proceeds from these assets to lend money to Ukraine. If the sanctions had not been extended, there would have been no legal basis to freeze these assets in Belgium.
