On Wednesday, the United States announced sanctions against three senior officials—two Russians and one Hungarian—of a Moscow-controlled bank based in Budapest. The International Investment Bank (IIB) is on a list of 120 individuals and entities from more than 20 countries against which the US Treasury and State Departments have adopted the umpteenth round of sanctions “for their connections to the illegitimate and unjustified invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.” The US Ambassador to Budapest, David Pressman, explained that “the presence of this opaque Kremlin platform [the IIB] in the heart of Hungary threatens the security and sovereignty of the Hungarian people, its European neighbors, and its NATO allies.” Hungary is the only EU country that will remain in the institution, of which Cuba, Mongolia, and Vietnam are also members.
The announcement of sanctions comes a day after Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto signed new agreements in Moscow to ensure the continued supply of Russian energy to his country, a sign that Budapest and Moscow’s strong diplomatic and commercial ties continue despite the EU and NATO’s outright rejection of the Kremlin’s aggression. Hungary, which belongs to both, has fostered its ties with Vladimir Putin’s Russia since 2010 under nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has avoided personally criticizing the Russian president despite theoretically condemning the invasion of Ukraine.
In Budapest’s theoretical condemnation of the Kremlin for the war, waterways have opened up in recent months. In September, the EU reprimanded its partner for Szijjarto’s meeting with the Russian representative to the UN, Vasili Nebenzia, during the UN General Assembly, thus breaking the isolation imposed by the West on the Kremlin. Hungary’s bilateral agreement with Russia deviates from the plans of Brussels, which in March encouraged energy companies to avoid purchases of Russian liquefied natural gas once existing contracts expire.