Hungary seeks to speed up Ukraine’s EU membership

Bloomberg

Hungary is simultaneously urging the speeding up of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union while maintaining close ties to Russia, according to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief adviser. “‘The Hungarian position is based on the idea of connectivity,” Balazs Orban, who’s unrelated to the premier, said in an interview in Brussels, referring to Russia. “So we should not separate us from each other.”
Hungary blocked the addition of several Russian officials to an EU sanctions list over its invasion of Ukraine, according to the country’s foreign ministers, Peter Szijjarto.
More than 100 individuals and dozens of entities were ultimately added to the list following a meeting of EU leaders, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.
Premier Orban had earlier called on the EU to withdraw all sanctions against Russia and his officials have cited Hungary’s dependence on Russian energy for the country’s need to maintain closer ties with Moscow than any other EU peer.