Hungarian Foreign Minister and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto today once again “saved” Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church from EU sanctions, the Hungarian edition 444.hu reports, according to UNN.
Details
Reportedly, Siyarto again vetoed the disbursement of about 6.5 billion euros from the European Peace Fund, the sending of an EU training mission to Ukraine, and the inclusion of Russian Patriarch Kirill on the sanctions list, as he himself announced after an informal meeting of the EU Council at the level of foreign ministers in Brussels.
“The 15th package of sanctions was also officially adopted today. Hungary supported this proposal because it still includes facilitation allowing MOL to export Russian oil and because it managed to “weed out crazy ideas from the sanctions package,” the Hungarian Foreign Minister said.
According to Siyarto, “it was such a ‘crazy idea’ that they wanted to put Patriarch Kirill on the sanctions list,” the newspaper writes.
“I think that the sanctions list against church leaders and church figures should definitely be avoided, because if we cannot talk to each other through the church line, the last hope for peace will be lost, including formally,” he said.
As the publication notes, this is “not the first time that the Hungarian government has defended a pro-war leader of the Russian church.