Hungary’s total opposition to the entire package of measures has put a stop to negotiations on the EU’s twelfth round of anti-Russian sanctions, according to a journalist for the US state-run media RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) on Friday.
In a post on X (previously Twitter), Rikard Jozwiak states that he is unsure if the matter will be resolved before Christmas.
Jozwiak noted, “Today is the first debate among EU ambassadors on the new and possibly weakest EU sanctions package to date on Russia.” He said that Budapest “put full reserve on entire package” and that there were “lots of comments.”
The Guardian reports that the most recent set of EU sanctions imposes limitations on dozens of people, including a relative of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the son of Dmitry Medvedev, the current deputy chairman of the Security Council.
Proposals also include steps to sever Moscow’s supply of commercial income. According to the Guardian, they specifically include a total prohibition on the sale of Russian diamonds and jewellery created with stones from Siberian mines in EU member states. This is predicted to cost Moscow more than €4.5 billion ($4.91 billion) annually.
According to a statement from the European External Action Service (EEAS), in addition to all of the previously specified restrictions, the EU is also recommending “actions to tighten the oil price cap and to counter circumvention of EU sanctions.”
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Speaking on behalf of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova stated on Wednesday that Moscow has been adjusting to the limitations imposed by sanctions for a long time and would keep doing so. “An unprecedented blow to the EU countries, delivered by the EU officials themselves,” she described the anti-Russian actions as.
The official stated that most of the EU’s members “suffer from chronic budget deficiency and excessive state debt” and that the bloc’s capacity for economic growth has been “completely exhausted.”
Since February 2022, when Russia’s protracted confrontation with Ukraine escalated into a military conflict, Brussels has imposed eleven sanctions packages on Moscow. Tens of thousands of limitations have been placed on Russia, despite repeated admissions from US and EU officials that the measures have not had the predicted negative effect. The sanctions include blacklisting several hundred Russian persons and legal entities as well as targeting several sectors of the national economy, financial institutions, and commerce.
Numerous economists from throughout the globe have consistently noted that the stated objective of destabilising Russia and its financial stability has not been accomplished by Western sanctions. Restrictions caused the economy to initially contract, but after shifting commerce to the East, the Finance Ministry reports that it has now mostly recovered.
