Viktor Orban Declares that Sanctions on Russian Gas and Nuclear Energy Will be Disastrous for Hungary
Jose Nino
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Earlier this month Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared that the imposition of sanctions on Russian gas and nuclear energy will have catastrophic consequences for Hungary. As a result, the Hungarian government will do everything possible to halt any measure that the European Union pursues along these lines.
When he was on the Kossuth radio station, Orban highlighted how the EU has already imposed restrictions on the purchase of Russian oil and is now in talks about banning Russian gas supplies and even sanctioning Russia’s nuclear energy industry.
“For Hungary, this will have tragic consequences, so we should be exempt from such a decision,” Orban stated. He called attention to how the Hungarian government will “fight to protect its interests.”
Orban noted that Hungary has always met its goals during negotiations with the EU and it is now involved in the debate on the ninth round of sanctions against Russia. The Hungarian Prime Minister expressed that he has “high hopes” for Hungary in these negotiations.
Orban called attention to how Hungary is “constantly under pressure” from other countries for its contrarian behavior on the international stage.
The EU, the United States, and the UK imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its military incursion in Ukraine. Orban observed that these sanctions have not brought the Russo-Ukrainian conflict to a quick end “by even a millimeter.”
“The policy of sanctions has not achieved its goal,” the Hungarian Prime Minister declared.
All in all, sanctions don’t work. They don’t bring about regime change nor do they deter would be geopolitical aggressors. In fact, in the Russian case, the sanctions will only make Russia pursue more maximalist gains in this conflict and escalate its actions.
Orban is sober-minded on the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. He’s a consummate realist who recognizes that these sanctions will blow up in Hungary’s face and make the average Hungarian poorer. The Collective West — all the way from the US to continental Europe — is already facing a massive energy crisis as a result of the sanctions against Russia and boneheaded energy policies that have left these countries vulnerable to geoeconomic shocks.
It makes no sense to continue escalating tensions with Russia. Instead, the West needs to get its house in order as far as immigration and cultural radicalism is concerned i.e. the real threats to the West’s existence as a coherent civilization. These are matters that are the existential threats of our time.
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