Hungarian FM Regrets EU's 'Undemocratic' Extension of Anti-Russia Sanctions

Hungary's Foerign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Wednesday that he regrets the European Union's "undemocratic" decision to extend sanctions against Russia.

BUDAPEST (Sputnik) — Szijjarto described the 28 EU ambassadors' unanimous agreement to extend anti-Russia sanctions without a proper political discussion as "cunning."

"The Hungarian government has always held the view that this issue should be discussed at the highest political level… That is why we are very disappointed and consider the European Union’s actions anti-democratic," Szijjarto said at a meeting of a Russian-Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission.

The EU leaders summit is scheduled for June 28-29. Extending the EU economic sanctions against Russia, which are due to expire in July, is likely to be on the summit's agenda.

Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated amid the 2014 crisis in Ukraine. The European Union, the United States and their allies have introduced several rounds of anti-Russian sanctions since the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014, accusing Moscow of meddling in the Ukrainian conflict, a claim Russian authorities have repeatedly denied.