Former Russian President and current Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, on Thursday hailed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s longstanding ally Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for boycotting the European oil, and lambasting the bloc for sanctioning head of Russian church.
Hungarian Prime Minister had rejected EU’s proposal of sixth round of sanctions on Moscow that includes total oil embargo by end of 2022, saying it does not give any security guarantees. Both Hungary and Slovakia that rely 100% on Russian oil import have demanded a transition period until the end of 2023 to be able to phase out of Russian energy dependency.
A courageous step for ‘voiceless Europe’
Praising Hungary for opposing the EU’s oil embargo proposal entirely, and labelling sanctions on Russia’s religious figure as “insane”, Medvedev said that Orban has demonstrated “a courageous step for voiceless Europe.” “Apparently, the most sensible leaders of the EU countries are tired of moving quietly to the precipice along with the entire sterilised European herd being led to the slaughter by an American shepherd,” Russia’s ex-President said on his Telegram channel.
Hungary’s pro-Putin Prime Minister who has embarked on his fourth consecutive term in office with two-thirds parliamentary majority, threatened complete isolation with Europe during a radio talk show over the matter of Russian oil embargo. He asserted that should EU attempt to curtail rights and ability of Hungary to veto matters in Europe it does not agree with, then “we will completely lose all our friends and partners in the European Union.”
Some 10 million Hungarians are members of the Orthodox Church, according to the 2011 census that constitutes roughly 0.11% of its population. “We do not see any plans or guarantees on how a transition could be managed based on the current proposals, and how Hungary’s energy security would be guaranteed,” Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told news agencies in Budapest.
In a recorded Facebook message, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto boycotted the EU’s ban on Russian energy imports, saying: “The Brussels package of sanctions would ban oil shipments from Russia to Europe, with a rather short notice, in case of Hungary the end of next year.” Both Hungary and Slovakia had previously clarified that they will not be able to completely halt Russian energy as there are no alternatives. Hungary gets 65 percent of its total oil and 85 percent of gas from Moscow.
