BUDAPEST (Reuters) – The United States is preparing to take action against some individuals including Hungarians over for evading Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine war, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The source gave no further details. The U.S. ambassador to Hungary was due to hold a press conference at 1500 GMT.
Hungary, a NATO and European Union member, has fostered good ties with Moscow since 2010 under nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has avoided personal criticism of President Vladimir Putin despite condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His stance has been criticised by U.S. and European allies.
Landlocked Hungary is heavily reliant on Russian natural gas and crude oil imports, and it has repeatedly criticised EU sanctions on Russia, saying they have failed to weaken Moscow meaningfully while risking destroying the European economy.
Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, on Wednesday accused the U.S. Embassy in Budapest of directly campaigning for a change in Hungary’s stance on Russia and Ukraine.
“In recent days, in the streets, everyone has been confronted with the fact that it is no longer the opposition that is campaigning with U.S. money, but the U.S. Embassy directly campaigned in Hungary,” Gulyas said, in comments posted on Twitter by a government spokesman.
“The U.S. has not given up trying to squeeze Hungary into the pro-war position shared by many of our allies, but Hungary remains convinced that peace is the only common interest.”
The U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment on Gulyas’s statement, or the possibility of sanctions on Hungarians.
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto visited Moscow this week for talks on energy supply issues arising since the invasion began.
Szijjarto held talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on Tuesday and said Russian energy giant Gazprom would maintain an option to supply more gas to Hungary this year on top of shipments agreed under a long-term deal.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Krisztina Than and Alan Charlish; editing by Kate Holton and Mark Heinrich)
