Hungary requests US sanctions exemption for gas payments to Gazprombank
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary has asked the United States to exempt Russia’s Gazprombank from sanctions when it comes to payments for natural gas as those sanctions could negatively affect some U.S. allies, Hungary’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia’s Gazprombank on Nov. 21 as President Joe Biden steps up measures to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine before he leaves office in January.
The sanctions prevent the state-controlled lender from handling any new energy-related transactions that involve the U.S. financial system.
“Yesterday we filed our request with the relevant American authorities that calls for Gazprombank being granted an exception from sanctions when it comes to payments for natural gas,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a briefing broadcast on his Facebook (NASDAQ:META) page.
Szijjarto, who was speaking in Brussels after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, cited U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken as saying that he was “willing to consult with allies for whom the sanctions caused problems”.
Hungary receives about two-thirds of its gas imports from Russia, but pressure is mounting for the country along with some of its neighbours to diversify more quickly away from Russian energy, following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Hungary has been receiving 4.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year from Russia under a 15-year deal signed in 2021.
Szijjarto said any exemption would be similar to those granted to other Russian banks that process payments for Russian uranium bought by the United States.
The minister said he would travel to Washington later on Wednesday but did not say what the focus of his talks there would be.
On Monday, Szijjarto travelled to Moscow for talks with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and said that Hungary was working on a solution to be able to pay for Russian gas after Gazprombank was put on the U.S. sanctions list.
