MOSCOW, October 22 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova - Relations between the United States and Hungary were plunged to rock bottom as Washington imposed sanctions against six Hungarian officials and denied them entry visas, former representative of Hungary to the United Nations, Ambassador Andre Erdos told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
“The issue of US measure against Hungary has sent us down to the bottom in terms of Hungarian and American relations,” Ambassador Andre Erdos told RIA Novosti.
“We have various disagreements or controversies between the United States and Hungary in various fields,” he said adding that they include the way civil society is handled, economic management, and corruption.
US visa bans are based on allegations that the Hungarian officials are involved in corruption.
Ambassador Erdos noted that Hungary’s relations with the European Union and the United States have been cooling down for a while, and that measures such as visa bans are normally employed against “some Latin American or African dictators, or authoritarian leaders, countries that are not at the forefront of transparency and democratic governance.”
“So it is a very strange thing that suddenly Hungary finds itself in the company of such countries,” the ambassador said, adding that Washington should have solid proof to take such decisions “à la légère”.
“This is another manifestation of the problems that unfortunately the present situation in Hungary is causing within the ranks of the European Union and the United States. And I have not yet mentioned the issue of Ukraine, the problem of gas supplies where again, the Hungarians are taking particular and special steps which are not totally in line with the general attitude of the European Union,” Erdos told RIA Novosti.
The United States and its allies have already imposed several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia, accusing it of supporting independence fighters in southeastern Ukraine.
Last week, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the sanctions imposed against Russia by the West are not helping in resolving the situation in Ukraine and are hurting the economies of EU member-states.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Western sanctions undermine economic stability in the world and hurt not only the target country but also those using the measure.
