U.S. senator blocks arms sale to Hungary for stalling Sweden’s NATO bid — Washington Post
Read NV on Google
Senator James Risch, the top Republican on the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee, is halting a $735 million U.S. arms sale to Hungary as punishment for the country’s refusal to approve NATO membership for Sweden, U.S. newspaper The Washington Post reported on June 14.
It is a rare move aimed at pressuring Budapest into greenlighting the military alliance’s expansion ahead of a major summit next month, WaPo wrote.
In a statement, Risch said Hungary must allow Sweden into NATO if it wants the arms package, which includes 24 HIMARS rocket launcher batteries, and more than 100 rockets and pods along with associated parts and support.
The decision to slam the brakes on new arms sales to Budapest demonstrates the growing anger toward Hungary by NATO backers like Risch, who rarely holds up arms sales to countries in any part of the world, the journalists said.
“For some time now, I have directly expressed my concerns to the Hungarian government regarding its refusal to move forward a vote for Sweden to join NATO,” he said.
“The fact that it is now June and still not done, I decided that the sale of new U.S. military equipment to Hungary will be on hold.”
All significant arms sales require the chair and ranking members of the U.S. Senate and House foreign affairs committees to give clearance and approval before the sale is publicly noticed by the State Department. Risch’s objection prevents the State Department from being able to move forward in the sales process.
Together with Finland, Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty amid the Russian full-scale war against Ukraine in May 2022.
Finland officially became the 31st NATO member on April 4, 2023.
Turkey and Hungary still need to ratify Sweden’s application to NATO.
The U.S. administration is pushing its NATO allies, in particular Turkey and Hungary, to ratify Sweden’s accession as soon as possible.
The military war may be swinging in our favor, but the information war continues.
Just as an army needs soldiers, so does a free society need its journalists to ensure that people have access to honest, trustworthy voices to understand the world around them.
For the past five years, The New Voice of Ukraine has been working tirelessly to push back against Russian narratives and defend democracy. But we cannot do it alone.
Please consider supporting us on Patreon for just $5 a month – your donation does directly to supporting journalists and ensuring that this front of the infowar says solid and defended.
Thank you.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
