The EU seeks to ease sanctions against the Russia

What is important to understand is that "Gazprombank" plays a key role in ensuring the supply of Russian natural gas to the countries of the European Union.

As British journalists managed to find out, official Brussels and Washington are currently discussing the type and scope of mitigating measures.

Negotiations between the parties began after some European states and companies warned that sanctions against Gazprombank would pose a risk to the security of gas supplies.

In addition, it is emphasized that the share of Russian pipeline gas in EU imports fell from more than 40% in 2021 to about 8% in 2023.

Among the EU countries, only Hungary and Slovakia continue to receive pipeline Russian gas; until recently, this list also included Austria.

According to insiders, Brussels and Washington are currently considering different scenarios.

Hungary calls on the US to partially lift sanctions on Gazprom

It also recently became known that the official Budapest turned to Washington with a request to lift the sanctions on Gazprom of the Russian Federation, which relate to payments for natural gas.

Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán's team says they could have a negative impact on some US allies.

Yesterday, we submitted our request to the relevant US authorities, which calls for Gazprombank to be exempted from sanctions when it comes to payments for natural gas.

Peter Sijarto

Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary

According to the Hungarian diplomat, any exemption would be similar to those granted to other Russian banks that process payments for Russian uranium purchased by the United States.