Delays to Russia sanctions 'failure for Europe,' Swedish foreign minister tells Euronews

Euronews · Feb 23, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Published on 23/02/2026 - 9:17 GMT+1 Postponing sanctions against Russia is a "failure" for Europe, Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told Euronews' morning show Europe Today on Monday. "Every delay that we have in the adoption of a sanctions package is a failure for Europe," the minister said, calling for more support for Ukraine. "We need to increase the pressure on Russia, hence the sanctions, and I expect them to behave like Europeans today, but I'm not sure," she added. Her comments come just 24 hours after Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Budapest would block any new EU sanctions against Russia at today’s meeting of foreign ministers “until Ukraine resumes oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline.” EU foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels on Monday to finalise the 20th round of sanctions against Moscow. The aim was to approve the package in time for Tuesday, marking four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Last week, Hungary and Slovakia announced they were suspending diesel exports to Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of deliberately restricting Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline. The move risks complicating the unanimity required among all 27 member states to adopt fresh sanctions. The dispute highlights ongoing friction between the two governments of EU member states — which continue to import significant volumes of Russian oil and gas — and Kyiv, which has repeatedly urged them to fully sever their dependence on Russian energy. Hungary has said it will also block a €90 billion EU loan for Ukraine, which has caused frustration among other EU countries, a decision Malmer Stenergard criticised as a "disgrace". "So it's a disgrace that they don't let it pass, but we will continue to put pressure on them. I'm afraid that there is a lot of domestic politics in all of this with elections coming up in Hungary," she concluded.