Lithuania FM Landsbergis says Hungary holding EU 'hostage' over Russian oil ban

The planning of the European Union seems to be faltering as several obstacles are emerging while planning the Russian oil embargo. According to a report by Euronews, Lithuania's Foreign Affairs Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, told them that some member states are holding the bloc "hostage". Notably, he was pointing fingers at Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, which are mostly dependent on Russia for oil. 

European Commission on May 4, proposed the sixth package of Ukraine war sanctions that included a ban on oil imports from Russia. At that time, Hungary which is one of several landlocked countries opposed the EU's proposal of banning Russian oil. Since then, it has been leading the team, demanding an extension of the EU plan.

Landsbergis' allegation against Hungary

"Unfortunately, the whole Union is being held hostage by one member state who cannot help us find a consensus," he said. "The Commission really offered some solutions which we were looking at as too relaxed. We're talking almost of a ban of oil that would end, the phase out, by December 31 of 2024. That's a very, very broad scope. I think everybody expected that this would be enough and I cannot explain why it isn't," Euronews quoted the minister as saying. 

"One of the solutions could be to help Ukraine to decouple itself from Russian oil and gas because as you know, the member state who cannot help us find a consensus is dependent on the traffic from Ukraine so if the traffic would be stopped from Ukraine, the sanction question would be solved altogether," he added.

Meanwhile, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who arrived in Brussels, for a meeting with the Foreign Ministers of the EU member states, said he will push the countries to impose further sanctions on Russia for its "unlawful" action against Ukraine. While posting the agenda of the meeting on the microblogging site, Kuleba said the central topic of discussion will be the sixth sanctions package against Moscow. 
"I began my visit to Brussels to push for the sixth EU sanctions package on Russia which must include an oil embargo," he wrote on Twitter.

(Image: AP)