Viktor Orban’s defeat has paved the way for the European Union to implement sanctions that Budapest had previously blocked.
Brussels has already begun preparing a 21st sanctions package, one of the key points of which will be the imposition of restrictions on the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, in particular on Patriarch Kirill.
EU officials believe that the current weakening of the Russian economy is the best time to increase pressure. The new package also plans to intensify the fight against the “shadow fleet” transporting Russian oil, aiming to cut off the Kremlin’s main sources of income and force Moscow to abandon its maximalist demands in peace talks.
