Hungary's Orban rejects EU ban on Russian oil

A European Union embargo on Russian oil would be equivalent to dropping an “atomic bomb” on Hungary's economy and could thus not be accepted, the country's nationalist prime minister said on Friday.

Viktor Orban reiterated earlier statements from Hungarian officials that Hungary would not support a new round of proposed EU sanctions against Russia if they included a ban on Russian oil exports.

Orban said that while his government is willing to negotiate on any EU proposals that are in Hungary's interests, the country's geography and existing energy infrastructure make a shutdown of Russian oil unfeasible.

“We cannot accept a proposal that ignores this circumstance because in its current form it is equivalent to an atomic bomb dropped on the Hungarian economy,” Orban said.

Hungary's government has firmly opposed EU plans to include Russian energy exports in its sanctions against Moscow, arguing that 85 percent of Hungary's gas and more than 60 percent of its oil comes from Russia.

On Friday, Orban said that converting Hungary's oil refineries and pipelines to be able to process oil from different sources would take five years and require massive investment.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)