Hungary reportedly blocking EU non-lethal military aid to Armenia, again

For the past six weeks, Hungary has been blocking €10 million ($11 million) in non-lethal military aid to Armenia from the EU’s European Peace Facility (EPF), RFE/RL reported on Monday, citing sources.

The EPF was created in 2021, and is a fund used by the EU to send military aid outside the bloc. Since its origin, the funds have been primarily sent to Ukraine, but in 2024, another €10 million was approved to be sent to Armenia, only to be temporarily blocked by Hungary.

Budapest ultimately withdrew its objection on the condition that an equal amount of funding be sent to Baku to help support demining operations in the country.

Additional discussions were held on Monday to try to convince Hungary to unblock the aid, but no progress was made, sources told RFE/RL.

The EPF aid provided to both Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2024 was the first of its kind from the EU.

Relations between Armenia and Hungary have been strained for the better part of the past decade — Armenia suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary in 2012 after the Hungarian government released an Azerbaijani soldier from custody who had murdered an Armenian soldier with an axe during a NATO training programme in Budapest in 2004.

The two countries restored their diplomatic relations in late 2022.

At the same time, Hungary has consistently had warmer relations with Azerbaijan, being one of the few EU countries to support Baku during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.