BUDAPEST -- Hungary's prime minister has reiterated his government's stance that it will not back the European Union's new proposed sanctions package against Russia, which includes an embargo on oil imports.
Speaking on state radio on May 6, Viktor Orban said the embargo would be like dropping an "atomic bomb" on the Hungarian economy.
But he also said Budapest was open to other proposals if they didn't harm Hungary's interests.
Orban's comments come a day after the European Union's executive body unveiled its toughest package of sanctions yet against Moscow over its war on Ukraine.
Orban, who won a fourth term in office last month, is seen as the EU's strongest supporter of Russia, going back years and well before Moscow's February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
He has also frequently poked Ukraine's government over the rights of ethnic Hungarians living in western Ukraine.
Several other EU countries -- including Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic -- have also voiced concern about the consequences for national economies if Russian oil is blocked.
Orban said the proposal didn't differentiate between countries; EU members that have a coastline, for example, can import oil by tankers. Landlocked Hungary doesn't have that option and therefore is more reliant on Russian oil through pipelines.
Diplomats said Hungary and Slovakia would be given until the end of 2023, but Orban suggested that wasn't enough time.
"We know exactly what we need: first of all we need five years for this whole process to be completed...one to 1 1/2 years is not enough for anything," he said.
Reuters quoted two unnamed sources as saying the European Commission had amended the embargo proposal to extend the period before it takes effect for Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
Under the tweaked proposal, Hungary and Slovakia will continue to be able to buy Russian oil from pipelines until the end of 2024, while the Czech Republic could continue until June 2024, provided that it does not get oil via a pipeline from Southern Europe earlier, the sources said.
The new EU proposal also calls for placing sanctions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, something Orban said he would not support.
