Greece and Hungary demand to exclude their companies from the new package of sanctions against russia

New sanctions against russia have once again been called into question by protests from Greece and Hungary, Politico reports.

The 11th package of sanctions is expected to include restrictions against Western companies that help moscow circumvent sanctions.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier that the list includes more than 90 companies, including Chinese ones.

Budapest and Athens, according to Politico, linked the approval of the sanctions package to the list of companies that Kyiv considers "war sponsors" and demanded that European companies be excluded from it.

"Although these issues are usually unrelated, Hungary and Greece are using the sanctions package as political leverage to remove their companies from the Ukrainian list," the publication writes.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers this week, German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock criticized Hungary's position, diplomats told Politico. Now Greece has joined Hungary.

"Greece reiterated that if there is concrete evidence of sanctions circumvention, it should be brought to the attention of the relevant member states at a technical level so that it can be adequately investigated and then appropriate action taken," one EU diplomat told Politico.

"In the case of the Ukrainian list, Greek companies are accused of being international sponsors of the war, even though they do not violate sanctions against russia," he added.

Background. Earlier it was reported that the European Union will allocate 80 million euros to Greek defense companies to produce ammunition for the Ukrainian army.