“Now the issue of extending sanctions is on the agenda, I have put on the handbrake and asked European leaders to understand that this cannot continue,” said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, speaking to state broadcaster Kossuth Radio. “Hungary cannot be made to pay the price of sanctions in such proportions.”

The EU renewed sanctions on Russia and called for unity to respond to Donald Trump's transactional approach. The US president's warning to Moscow to end the war or face more penalties was more in line with EU policy.

The economic difficulties facing the Hungarian leader with will further undermine his ability to hijack — let alone drive — the EU’s agenda.

The Hungarian premier has repeatedly called for the end of Russian sanctions. One of the E.U.’s closest Trump allies, Orban has backed the U.S. president’s ambition to end the war swiftly, asserting that the new administration was poised to cut off aid to Ukraine.

The European Union is facing another potential showdown with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over his refusal to sign off on an extension of sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine.

Russia's second-largest oil producer Lukoil plans to raise around $2 billion from the sale of its Burgas oil refinery in Bulgaria, RIA news agency reported late on Thursday quoting Bulgaria's Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a key ally of Russia and a good friend of Donald Trump’s, took to X to congratulate the newly

Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the EU, has broken with the majority of European leaders and vocally opposed such sanctions, arguing they did more to damage Euro

With a key deadline set to expire next week, Viktor Orbán and his deputies have raised the spectre of vetoing EU sanctions against Russia, a move which would upend the bloc's foreign policy. #EuropeNe

The Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk commented on the actions of Hungary, whose representatives have not yet agreed to extend sanctions against Russia. Source: Tusk on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda Details: Donald Tusk,

Lukoil has been under pressure to sell the 190,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) plant due to sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.