Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, said on Friday: “The European economy is being killed not by the sanctions, but by Russia’s hybrid war.”
Speaking in an interview with the Unian news agency, he added: “The Kremlin has created a gas crisis in Europe to undermine the prosperity of European countries. When the Russian army is killing Ukrainian children in cold blood, in Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and other cities, the Hungarian PM should not be calling for the abolition of sanctions against Russia; on the contrary, he should be calling for further effective steps to contain Russia’s aggressive policy.”
Earlier in the day, Orban told Hungarian public radio in reference to sanctions: “It is clear that the European economy has shot itself in the lungs, and it is gasping for air."
He added that Ukraine needed help, but European leaders should reconsider their policy of sanctions against the Kremlin, which have caused “widespread damage to the European economy without weakening Russia or bringing the months-long war closer to any resolution,” Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Orban went on to state: "The sanctions do not help Ukraine, however, they are bad for the European economy and if it goes on like this, they will kill off the European economy. What we see right now is unbearable."
He also said: “The moment of truth must come in Brussels when leaders admit they have made a miscalculation, that the sanctions policy was based on wrong assumptions and it must be changed."
Sanctions help 'hold Moscow accountable for its crimes’
Nikolenko responded that, in Ukraine’s view, sanctions were not “ineffective,” as they helped “hold Moscow accountable for its crimes and weaken its ability to continue waging the war.”
He said the government in Kyiv was calling on its partners to “adopt another sanctions package as soon as possible, to remove loopholes in the sanctions and to keep increasing the volume of heavy weaponry provided to Ukraine.”
The European Commission on Friday proposed an import ban on Russian gold as part of a new package of EU sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
Friday was day 142 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, euronews.com