Hungary considers Ukraine's decision to suspend OTP Bank’s designation as international sponsor of terrorism insufficient

Ukrainska Pravda
·2 min read
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Ukraine has agreed to suspend Hungarian OTP Bank’s status as international sponsor of terrorism in an effort to unblock 500 million euros from the European Union’s military fund, but Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said this is not enough.

Source: Index, with reference to Mate Paczolay, Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Chief of Press

Details: Paczolay said that Ukraine's suspension of the bank from the list of persons and institutions supporting the war did not lead to significant changes.

He added that Hungary's position is clear: "As long as OTP Bank is not removed from the list, Hungary will not participate in further EU funding for arms supplies to Ukraine."

Background:

  • On Friday, 29 September, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) announced the suspension of the status of international war sponsor for the Hungarian OTP Bank, which Budapest had demanded repeatedly.

  • The status of an international war sponsor has been suspended for OTP Bank, as well as five Greek shipping companies, whom Kyiv accused of illegally transporting Russian oil bypassing the price cap.

  • In May, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Ukraine announced that it included OTP Bank in the list of war sponsors due to the decision of the bank's management to continue operations in the Russian Federation and the de-facto recognition of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

  • The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, said that due to Ukraine's inclusion of the Hungarian OTP Bank in the list of war sponsors, Budapest "will find it very difficult" to agree with the EU on new sanctions against Russia.

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