Bloomberg has reported that the European Union will likely sideline attempts to impose a price cap on Russian oil products due to pushback from Hungary and Cyprus.
- A price cap was expedited by an extraordinary EU Council on the margins of the UNGA in New York last week after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilisaion and moved to ratify "sham" referenda in occupied territories.
- EU sanctions packages required unanimity, a procedural hurdle which has repeatedly handed Budapest a veto in measures against Russia.
- Bloomberg: "Countries may push to have a preliminary deal ahead of an informal gathering of EU leaders in Prague on Oct. 6."
- Hungary PM Viktor Orban said today that sanctions on Russia have "backfired" and will press ahead with a "national consultation" on sanctions. The move has been described as a propaganda drive with no binding legal relevance but Orban is likely hoping that a domestic mandate to oppose the EU will allow him to obfuscate sanctions.