EU leaders were poised to endorse an embargo on Russian oil on Monday after weeks of intensive talks, the bloc’s most far-reaching effort to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine by depriving the Kremlin of a key stream of revenue and accelerating Europe’s independence from Russian fuel.
To reach the proposed compromise at a summit in Brussels, however, negotiators were forced capitulate to Hungary’s demand that it be practically indefinitely exempted from the measure.
The exemption would barely dent the impact of the bloc’s new sanctions on Russia: given Hungary’s small size, its continued purchase of Russian oil offers little financial benefit for the Kremlin. But politically, it offered the most definitive sign yet that Hungary has peeled away from the bloc in meaningful ways when it comes to Russia, with which it maintains close political links.
