"Szijjarto" opposes automatic extension of EU anti-Russian sanctions

Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said in an interview with RT that, in his opinion, EU nations should discuss anti-Russian sanctions instead of extending them automatically.

"We made it very clear that there must be a dialogue and honest and straightforward discussion about whether sanctions have been successful or not," he said. "Let’s see things factually whether it helped European economies, whether it helped the Russian economy, or whether it helped to down the Russian economy, whether it helped to implement the Minsk agreements, and so on and so forth."

"And after giving honest answers to honest questions we should make decisions about our future," Szijjarto continued.

"Now the current Italian government seems to represent the same position - no automatic roll-over, discussion must be made. And since they are a strong and big G7 country it will be much easier for the smaller EU member state to represent this position together with the big one," he added.

A similar opinion was earlier voiced by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

The EU sanctions against Russia come in three independent packages - travel restrictions against Russian citizens, economic sanctions against a number of Russian state-run oil, defense and financial companies and Crimea-related sanctions. All those packages were imposed throughout 2014.

The first two packages are extended once in six months, while measures against Crimea - once in a year.