Brussels, 23 February — Hungary has moved to delay the European Union’s 20th sanctions package against Russia, using a dispute over the Druzhba pipeline to block not only fresh measures against Moscow but also a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion.
The practical consequence is plain: while Brussels tries to tighten pressure on the Kremlin, Budapest is holding up that effort over continued access to Russian oil. Those oil revenues matter because they help finance Russia’s war against Ukraine. Hungary’s position therefore carries implications well beyond a bilateral energy row.
Arriving for the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she did not expect progress on the sanctions package that day, despite attempts by other member states to secure agreement. Under EU rules, sanctions require unanimity, allowing a single capital to delay adoption.
That delay is politically significant. The package had been expected before 24 February, when the EU marks four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Existing sanctions remain in force, but failure to approve a new package on schedule weakens the bloc’s attempt to project unity at a symbolic moment. This is an inference from the timing and the Council process, not a formal EU statement.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has tied Budapest’s position to the stoppage of Russian oil deliveries via Druzhba, saying Hungary will block decisions important to Kyiv until transit resumes. Hungary has extended that threat to both the sanctions package and the proposed €90 billion loan for Ukraine.
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In Brussels on Monday, Szijjártó also escalated his rhetoric against Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of anti-Hungarian conduct and alleging hostility towards Hungary. He further argued that there was no physical reason preventing a resumption of oil transit and framed the stoppage as a political decision by Ukraine. Those claims are central to Budapest’s case for blocking EU action, but they are allegations made by the Hungarian side.
Ukraine’s position is different and directly relevant to the sanctions dispute. Reuters reported that Ukrainian officials linked the interruption to a 27 January strike on infrastructure connected to the Druzhba route in western Ukraine, with Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stating that the strike halted transit. Reuters also reported that Hungary and Slovakia blamed Kyiv, while Ukraine condemned their pressure as ultimatums and blackmail.
While Ukraine enters a fourth year of full-scale war, with Russia continuing to strike its energy infrastructure and civilian targets, leaving households to endure blackouts, loss of heat and freezing conditions, Orbán’s government is using the EU sanctions process to press for the restoration of Russian oil flows. In practice, that means defending a revenue stream for the Kremlin at the very moment Europe is trying to tighten pressure on Moscow — money Russia uses to continue its war against Ukraine.
The domestic Hungarian context matters. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in power since 2010, faces a parliamentary election on 12 April and the most serious challenge to his rule in years. Reuters reported heavy pre-election spending and government measures aimed at cushioning households from costs, placing energy and living costs at the centre of the campaign environment.
Other EU governments reacted with open condemnation. Germany’s Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul, said ministers would press Hungary to reverse course and declared that Budapest should not “betray its own struggle for freedom and European sovereignty” by blocking the next sanctions package against Russia.
For now, the package is delayed rather than dead. But the political fact is harder to soften: on the eve of the invasion’s fourth anniversary, as Ukraine remains under Russian attack, Hungary has used its EU veto to slow new pressure on Moscow and to press for the resumption of Russian oil flows — helping protect a stream of Kremlin revenue that feeds the war Europe says it wants to stop.
