Hungary Lost $7Bln To EU Economic Sanctions On Russia - Minister

Hungary has lost some $7 billion in revenues from trade with Russia since the European Union imposed sanctions on it, Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto said Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2019) Hungary has lost some $7 billion in revenues from trade with Russia since the European Union imposed sanctions on it, Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto said Thursday.

"I think we are on the right track and will soon see our trade rise to $10 billion. It's not our fault we are still short of this mark. The European sanctions have thrown off our projections ... We estimate that the Hungarian economy has missed out on around $7 billion in lost export revenues," he said.

Speaking at a meeting in Moscow with Nikolai Fedorov, the first deputy chair of the upper house of the Russian parliament, Szijjarto said that the Central European country had to take extra efforts to achieve the current level of trade with Russia after the EU sanctions kicked in in 2014.

Ties between Russia and the European Union soured after a war broke out in eastern Ukraine, with Brussels blaming it on Moscow's meddling. Russia has denied the claim. The 28-nation bloc has imposed economic sanctions on Russia and been extending them every six months.