During his visit to the Hungarian capital on Tuesday, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk met with officials including his counterpart Levente Magyar, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
“Our task is to persuade everyone who is not yet convinced enough … that Russia must be hit with as far-reaching sanctions as possible, and that Ukraine requires wide-reaching assistance to be able to defend itself effectively against Russian aggression,” Szynkowski vel Sęk told reporters.
He added: “We should be under no illusions, if we don’t stop Russia, it will make another step, maybe by attacking Moldova, maybe the Baltic states, and maybe Poland, too, and other countries of the European Union.”
‘Poland is ready to support Hungary' in rejecting Russian energy
Szynkowski vel Sęk said he had told officials in Budapest that Poland was ready to help Hungary become independent from Russian oil and gas.
“I outlined concrete statistics and possibilities, adding that Poland is ready to support Hungary in this respect,” he added.
He voiced hope that Hungary “will support the EU’s sixth package of sanctions against Russia,” which includes a proposed ban on Russian oil imports.
Polish diplomatic drive
Szynkowski vel Sęk told reporters that Poland was “engaging with Hungary on many levels” to make this happen, including efforts by President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau.
While in Budapest, Szynkowski vel Sęk held talks with senior lawmaker Zsolt Nemeth, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s foreign policy aide Balazs Orban, and Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary, Ljubov Nepop, the PAP news agency reported.
Proposed EU embargo on Russian oil
The EU’s executive last week proposed to phase out Russian oil by the end of this year, in the latest round of sanctions on Russia for its assault on Ukraine.
However, Orban said at the time that this would be “like an atomic bomb dropped on the Hungarian economy.”
The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, visited Hungary on Monday to persuade Orban to back the embargo and tweeted afterwards that they had “made progress” on the issue.
Wednesday is day 77 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, rmf24.pl, euractiv.com