Hungary protests 'unlawful' step by EU to freeze Russian assets, Orban says

Hungary protests against what it calls an "unlawful" step planned by European Union governments to freeze Russian assets indefinitely using a qualified majority vote, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a Facebook post on Friday.

"Brussels will step over the Rubicon today, with a written voting starting which will cause irreparable damage to the Union," Orban said. "Hungary protests the decision and will do its best to restore a lawful situation."

An agreement to freeze the Russian assets indefinitely would eliminate a risk to the plan of using them to finance Ukraine because Moscow-friendly Hungary and Slovakia would no longer have the power to veto an extension of the freeze every six months as now.