BUDAPEST, December 19. /TASS/. Hungary considers US sanctions against Gazprombank not just an unfriendly step, but political revenge on the part of the Joe Biden administration against a number of Central and Eastern European countries, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto, said in an interview with the Hungarian TV channel M1. He has arrived in New York to take part in the UN General Assembly.
"They told us openly that this was done for political reasons. This is outrageous, this is absolutely inappropriate behavior for allies and obvious political revenge," he said.
Szijjarto stressed that the American sanctions against Gazprombank, through which payments for Russian oil and gas were made, as well as for the Paks-2 NPP project, affected those countries where governments are in power that pursue independent policies. These include Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, and Turkey. Szijjarto noted that these countries held consultations and "have already developed an alternative way of payment that does not violate sanctions and allows payments" for Russian energy resources. According to him, such unfriendly actions, which threaten the well-being of an entire region, must be assessed from the point of view of energy security. The minister said that in this situation, the only thing that is encouraging is the recent victory of Republican Donald Trump at the presidential election in the United States. He expressed hope that with Trump as the US President Hungary has a chance to establish different relations with Washington.