Hungary has dropped its threat to prevent EU sanctions against Russia from being rolled over for another six months.
As a result, EU foreign ministers have unanimously agreed to maintain financial pressure on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The breakthrough followed an agreement by the European Commission that it would include Hungary and Slovakia in talks to help restore gas supplies, after Ukraine announced it would halt the transit of Russian gas through its territory.
Hungary has complained that Ukraine's move - which Kyiv said was instrumental in starving Russia of revenue - was damaging the Hungarian economy, and prime minister Viktor Orban sought to use his threat to block the sanctions to have the transit of Russian gas to Hungary restored.
In a statement, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: "The [European] Commission is ready to continue discussions with Ukraine on the supply to Europe through the gas pipeline system in Ukraine in line with Ukraine’s international obligations.
"In that context, the Commission is ready to associate Hungary in the process (along with Slovakia)."
The statement added: "The integrity of the energy infrastructure supplying EU Member States is a matter of EU security. The Commission expects all third countries to respect this and is ready to take measures to protect critical energy infrastructure such as electricity cables and oil and gas pipelines or facilities."
Prime Minister Orban, who has repeatedly held up EU financial and military support for Ukraine, and who is regarded as close to Russian president Vladimir Putin, had threatened to veto the roll over of sanctions.
Sanctions against Russia need the unanimous support of 27 member states to be rolled over every six months, with the deadline of 31 January approaching.
As of Friday, Hungary had not yet decided whether to support the roll over.
On his arrival at the meeting this morning, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris said: "We must absolutely retain European solidarity. We need to see the rollover of the sanctions in relation to Russia. That's absolutely essential."
