Hungarian Foreign Minister Petar Szijjártó threatened on Friday that his country would block the ratification of a new set of EU sanctions against Russia, condemning Hungary’s biggest bank, OTP, as being included in the list of potential targets.

As long as the OTP remains on a Ukrainian list of supporters of the Russian war in Ukraine, the Hungarian government will not even negotiate the new set of sanctions, Mr. Szijjártó said yesterday, Friday, during a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Sweden.

The head of Hungarian diplomacy called it scandalous the fact that Kiev included the bank in the list, stressing that it did not violate any law.

The European Commission submitted its proposals for the 11th round of EU sanctions on Russia last week. The purpose is mainly to prevent the circumvention of the measures that have already been imposed.

The proposals also foresee further trade restrictions, which could potentially hit Hungarian companies.

Giuseppe Borrell, the European foreign policy chief, declined to comment on Mr Szijardo’s position at the press conference after the council. He claimed that the ministers did not hear their Hungarian colleague make these comments.

However, he noted that it is no secret that Hungary does not believe in the effectiveness of European sanctions on Moscow.

Ukraine’s national anti-corruption service (EPS) listed OTP as war supporters in early May, accusing it of supporting “terrorism”. OTP is among the largest financial services providers in the Russian market after the outbreak of war on February 24, 2022, according to Kyiv.