Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has rejected reports that his country would oppose Russia’s exclusion from the SWIFT banking information system in the European Union.
“There is a lie being spread that Hungary would block part of the sanctions against Russia, for example those related to the SWIFT system,” Szijjarto wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday. This was not true, he added. “At no time have we opposed or blocked even a single sanctions bill, and we will not block anything,” he further wrote.
Earlier, EU diplomats had reported that Hungary, in addition to Germany, Italy and Cyprus, also wanted to forego Russia’s exclusion from the Swift banking information system for the time being at the EU crisis summit that ran into the early hours of Friday.
Cyprus has meanwhile rejected this, and there were also signs of a change of direction in Italy. According to observers in Budapest, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban does not want to end up isolated in the EU.
