Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends the autumn session of parliament in Budapest, Hungary, Sept 26, 2022. [Photo/Agencies]

In a speech delivered at the opening of the Hungarian Parliament's autumn session on Monday, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Western countries' sanctions against Russia have turned the "local" conflict between Russia and Ukraine into a "global economic war".

As Orban has correctly pointed out, an increasing number of countries around the world are becoming "victims" of the conflict in Ukraine due to its impact on global food and energy supplies and the spillover effects of the sanctions imposed on Russia. The United States' proxy war against Russia has sent oil and food prices rocketing upwards.

From Sri Lanka's financial crisis to the acute food crisis in Africa, the conflict's impacts on other parts of the world have been swift and serious.

Even European countries are bracing for a winter of fuel shortages and high fuel prices.

Europe's plight prompted Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto to say, in an interview with CNN on Saturday, that the European Union's sanctions policy against Russia had failed "because those sanctions that were introduced against Russia are more harmful and more painful to Europe than to the Russian Federation".

Before the Ukraine conflict erupted, the world economy was already being battered by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the efforts of the US to break and reshape supply chains and the disruptions caused by global warming-induced extreme weather events. The sanctions imposed on Russia and their broad consequences have painted an even gloomier picture.

As the adverse effects of the sanctions have become increasingly evident, the EU's sanction regime has created differences and divisions among the bloc: According to a Bloomberg report on Monday, EU nations are likely to delay an accord on imposing a price cap on Russian oil as opposition to it has surfaced within the bloc.

History has shown that sanctions are not an effective means of resolving conflicts and disputes. Instead of forcing Russia to its knees, the sanctions against it have only added more fuel to the fire of Moscow's confrontation with the West and opened a Pandora's box for the world.

Nothing is more salient of the folly of their actions than the fact that European countries are facing a rising wave of public anger as the sanctions hit home, literally.

It is high time the US and the EU placed their apoplectic sanctions genie back in the bottle before it does any more harm.