Hungarian Foreign Minister calls US sanctions against Gazprombank a threat to Europe

U.S. sanctions against Gazprombank threaten the energy security of Central Europe and Washington is deliberately doing so, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on November 22.

"Putting Gazprombank on the sanctions list is a decision that is deliberately aimed at putting certain Central European countries in a difficult situation and deliberately jeopardizing the security of energy supply of certain Central European countries," he wrote on his Facebook page (owned by the recognized extremist company Meta, its activities are banned in Russia).

The diplomat noted that Hungary considers any attempts to jeopardize the security of its energy sector as an encroachment on its sovereignty. He emphasized that Budapest would not give in to such pressure, abandoning its national interests.

According to Szijjártó, the Hungarian government is working to solve the problem together with its partners. This situation will be discussed today in Istanbul with the energy ministers of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Serbia, as well as ongoing consultations with Slovak partners, the minister said.

Restrictive examples: what the new US sanctions against Gazprombank mean

Restrictions on a number of other players and top management of the Central Bank will not affect the economy in any way - the market has already adapted to the new reality

Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is working out retaliatory measures to the US sanctions against Gazprombank. He called impossible completely blocking measures against the Russian Federation and promised that a solution will soon be found.

Gazprombank was included in the U.S. sanctions list the day before, on November 21. Investor Denis Astafiev explained that the bank was not included there for a long time, because it was important for payment for energy supplies to Europe. The payments were made on an exceptional basis to ensure the stability of European energy. The step will damage the European economy to a greater extent than the Russian economy, the expert said.

In October, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller called the situation in the European gas market bad and agreed with the assessment that the demand for energy resources there is being destroyed purposefully. Later that month, the U.S. temporarily authorized energy deals with a number of Russian banks. The Kremlin pointed out that Washington was acting pragmatically for the sake of its own economic interests.