BUDAPEST (Dispatches) -- Hungary on Friday warned it cannot accept the EU’s planned ban on Russian oil as it would amount to an “atomic bomb” for its economy, threatening to scupper the bloc’s sixth sanctions package against Moscow.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban - no stranger to disputes with the bloc’s executive - blasted European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen for “attacking” EU unity with a plan to ban Russian oil, saying it crosses a red line and has been sent back.
“The European Commission president, intentionally or unintentionally, has attacked the European unity that had been worked out,” Orban said on state radio.
“From the first moment we made clear that there will be a red line... they have crossed this red line.”
On Wednesday the EU executive proposed to the bloc’s 27 members a ban on Russian oil imports in its toughest move yet over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Von der Leyen said the bloc would “phase out Russian supply of crude oil within six months, and refined products by the end of the year”.
Hungary and Slovakia -- both highly dependent on Moscow’s oil exports -- would have until the end of 2023.
The embargo would amount to “a nuclear bomb dropped on the Hungarian economy”, Orban said, adding that the proposed exemption for Hungary until end-2023 is not long enough.
“The transformation of the Hungary energy transmission and supply system could be completed in five years,” Orban said.
According to Budapest, 65 percent of Hungary’s oil and 85 percent of its gas supplies come from Russia. The country sources almost 65% of its oil supplies, including refined products, from Russia.
The EU’s proposal, part of a new round of measures aimed at punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, follows a similar move announced by Britain and the United States in March.
Hungary’s opposition poses a threat to the embargo as it requires the support of all 27 member states to be approved.
It was only made possible after Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, declared that it was now in a position to source the supplies it needed from elsewhere.
Japan’s minister of economy, trade, and industry Koichi Hagiuda also said during his Thursday visit to Washington that his country would face “difficulty” immediately following a move to cut off Russian oil imports.
“Given Japan has its limit on resources, we would face some difficulty to keep in step immediately” with other countries, Hagiuda said at a press briefing following a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia declared on Thursday that a “world war” is currently being waged at an economic level by the West in light of measures taken against Russia.
Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine, he insisted that the Russian military operation in the eastern European country “is not a war on Ukraine but a proxy war of the West against Russia.”
He said that judging by the speed with which the economic war against Russia was unleashed, it is evident that the West has been preparing for it for a long time.
“This is not a war on Ukraine, contrary to what you say, this is a proxy war of the collective West against the Russian Federation. It is as if you were eagerly awaiting this moment to unleash repression against Russia,” he said.
“And if we were to talk about world war then, without a doubt, it is being waged at the economic level today.”
Germany to Send Howitzers to Ukraine
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced on Friday that Berlin will deliver seven self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, on top of five such artillery systems the Dutch government already pledged.
Germany reversed its long-held policy of not sending heavy weapons to war zones last week following pressure at home and abroad for it to help Ukraine fend off Russian attacks.
The training of the first group of some 20 Ukrainian troops on the Panzerhaubitze 2000 is expected to kick off next week in the German town of Idar-Oberstein.

Berlin will also supply a first ammunition package for the howitzers built by German defense company KMW, with further ammunition purchases to be handled directly between Kiev and the company.
The Panzerhaubitze 2000 is one of the most powerful artillery weapons in the Bundeswehr inventories and can hit targets at a distance of 40 kilometers.
Last week, Berlin agreed for the first time to supply Kiev with heavy weapons, in that case, Gepard air-defense tanks, after critics accused Germany of dragging its heels on heavy weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
On Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that its missiles destroyed a large ammunition depot in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.
It further said that its air defenses shot down two Ukrainian warplanes, a Su-25 and a MiG-29, in the eastern Luhansk region.
Russia also said it does not intend to employ nuclear weapons in Ukraine, rejecting reports by Western media suggesting the possibility of a nuclear strike by Moscow are “deliberate lies.”
Speaking in a press conference in Moscow on Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Alexey Zaitsev said the use of atomic weapons was not an objective of the Russian military offensive against Ukraine.
“The scenarios of our potential use of nuclear weapons are clearly prescribed in Russian doctrinal documents. They are not applicable to the implementation of the tasks set in the course of the special military operation in Ukraine,” he said.
The Ukrainian president’s office said almost 500 civilians have been evacuated from the devastated city of Mariupol and its besieged Azovstal steel plant in a UN-led rescue operation.