Hungary's minister of foreign affairs and trade told CNBC Wednesday that European Union sanctions placed on Russia aren't hurting Vladimir Putin's regime.
Both the European Union and the United States have imposed penalties on Russia, citing interference in the 2016 U.S. election, human rights violations, the annexation of Crimea and the alleged destabilization of eastern Ukraine.
Speaking at the Russian Energy Week in Moscow, Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said if people looked at the situation rationally then it's clear sanctions are failing to hurt Russia.
"You see that neither the political nor the economy goals that have been attached to the sanctions by the European Union have been successful," he said.
"They were totally unsuccessful because Russia is not on its knees economically, but also because there have been many harms to our own economies and, politically speaking, we have had no real forward progress regarding the Minsk agreement."
Szijjarto added that despite the failed impact, Hungary had never and would never break European unity when it came to imposing sanctions.
