European Union ambassadors will be able to extend economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, and Hungary will not stand in the way of this decision.

This is reported “European Truth”with reference to Radio Svoboda's Europe editor Ricardo Jozwiak on his social network X: “It looks like the EU ambassadors will be able to extend economic sanctions against Russia for six months on Friday. Hungary has been hesitant so far (regarding the “yes” vote), but it seems that the new administration in the United States wants the sanctions to remain.”

Jozwiak reminded that the European Union should extend the economic sanctions against Russia for another six months until January 31, so that they remain in force.

The EU renews existing sanctions every six months, and this requires the unanimity of the 27 member states.

Until now, the extension of sanctions was a routine decision, and usually the political decision to do so was taken at the last EU summit of the year. But it is known that at the last summit in December, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told colleagues to wait for Trump's inauguration.

Last week, the Hungarian government again said that the EU should decide on extending sanctions only after consulting with the new US administration, and Viktor Orban himself called for “throwing sanctions out the window” and improving relations with Russia.

Unofficially, the EU has already begun looking for options in case Hungary decides to block the continuation of sanctions — including using an 81-year-old law involving the Belgian king.