Slovakia, Hungary won’t back sanctions on Russia

Slovakia and Hungary say they won’t support sanctions against Russian energy that the European Union is preparing over the war in Ukraine. The countries said Tuesday that they are too reliant on those supplies and there are no immediate alternatives. The European Commission has drafted new proposals for sanctions, which could include a phased-in embargo on Russian oil. The 27 member countries are likely to start discussing them Wednesday. Despite disagreement on new energy sanctions, European Council President Charles Michel vowed to “break the Russian war machine” by steering countries away from Russia’s natural gas supplies. He toured liquefied natural gas facilities being built in Greece with the leaders of Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia.