Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán has said it will support all European Union sanctions against Russia and will not block any.

“Hungary made clear that we support all the sanctions, so we will block nothing, so what the prime ministers of the European Union are able to agree, we accept it and we support it,” Mr Orbán told Reuters.  

Earlier on Saturday he said he agreed with Russia being blocked from the cross-border Swift payments system.

Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he had spoken on Saturday with Mr Orbán, who had assured him of Budapest’s support for sanctions against Russia, including taking Russia off the SWIFT system. 

“I talked today again with Prime Minister of Hungary V. (Victor – PAP) Orban. Once again he assured me of support for far-reaching sanctions directed towards Russia. Also including blocking the SWIFT system,” Mr Morawiecki tweeted.

European Union sanctions against Russia were announced on Friday night in response to its attack on Ukraine.

The EU imposed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as well as broad individual and economic sanctions including against Belarus.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the SWIFT option risked hurting individuals, such as those trying to send money to relatives in Russia, “whereas those people who are responsible for the bloodshed will still be able to do their bank business”.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a cooperative of financial institutions headquartered in Belgium.

It is run by the National Bank of Belgium in partnership with other major central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve System, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.

The network acts as a secure messaging system that links over 11,000 financial bbodies

 in over 200 countries and territories, alerting banks when transactions are going to occur.

Cutting off Russia from the system would have damaging effects on its economy, especially its international financial transactions, such as profits from oil and gas production. This  accounts for more than 40 per cent of Russia’s revenue.