According to the Ministry of National Defense, the intention to purchase weapons, which an American senator, according to his own statement, "blocked" is no longer relevant.
US Senator James E. Risch vetoed a $735 million arms sale to Hungary. This was published by the Republican head of the Foreign Affairs Committee himself, who told the Washington Post: Hungary must admit Sweden to NATO if it wants to get access to the arms package, which It contains 24 HIMARS missile launcher batteries and over 100 missiles with their associated components and support.
"For some time now, I have directly expressed my concerns to the Hungarian government regarding the fact that the vote on Sweden's accession to NATO is not moving forward," said Risch.
"It is now June and it still hasn't happened, so I have decided that the sale of new US military equipment to Hungary will be suspended," he added.
All major arms sales require approval from officials in the Senate and House Foreign Affairs Committees before the sale is publicly announced by the State Department. Risch's objection prevents the State Department from moving forward with the sale process.
However, the situation is overshadowed by the reaction of the Ministry of National Defense to Risch's announcement. According to the ministry, the matter is out of time, as in the previous government cycle, the government commissioner responsible for procurement requested information regarding the HIMARS missile systems in a letter, with a deadline of March 2022. There was no response to this letter from the American side, and the ministry considered the matter closed.
