Hungary has appealed to the United States to lift sanctions against Russia’s Gazprombank in part related to payments for natural gas. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Szijarto, noted, the sanctions may negatively affect some allies of the United States. About this informs Reuters.
In November, the US introduced new restrictions against Gazprombank to deal an additional blow to Russia’s economy ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration. The sanctions have blocked the bank’s ability to conduct any new energy-related transactions through the US financial system. At the same time, several EU countries, including Hungary, used Gazprombank to pay for Russian gas supplies.
Peter Szijjarto emphasized that Hungary has already submitted an official request to the US for an exception to the sanctions for payments for natural gas. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Washington is ready to discuss this issue with allies if sanctions create difficulties for them.
In early December, Szijjarto visited Moscow, where he said that Budapest was looking for ways to settle the situation to ensure the possibility of paying for gas supplies after the inclusion of Gazprombank on the US sanctions list. The minister noted that Hungary expects such an exception to be similar to the one already granted to Russian banks that handle payments for uranium purchased by the United States.
