Ministry of Foreign Affairs silent about EU sanctions regarding Ukraine

“Enforcing sanctions is not the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the first place” – said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in their reply to an atlatszo.hu inquiry on the steps the ministry has taken to enforce sanctions against Ukraine and Russia in Hungary.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Ukrainian officials, businessmen and military leaders, as well as on Russian citizens who are thought to be involved in the annexation of Crimea. Risk Advisory Group, a British consultancy, published a combined list of all Ukraine-related sanctions so far. The measures are targeting, among others, some of Vladimir Putin’s advisors, as well as the former Ukrainian president and prime minister.

Hungary’s close economic ties with Ukraine are also threatened by the imposed sanctions. At an EU foreign affairs summit held on April 14th, Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi stressed that 80% of Hungary’s gas imports originate from Russia.

Editing by Orsolya Gulyás. The Hungarian language source article was posted on 16 April 2014.