2024-08-31 06:10:29
“Without Russian gas, Hungary’s energy security cannot be guaranteed. This is not a matter of ideology but of physics and mathematics,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said in a Facebook post.
Szijardo traveled to Russia today to discuss the energy supply of Budapest with the chairman and CEO of Gazprom, a visit that is likely to increase tensions with Brussels.
“It takes courage in Europe today to say this, but Hungary is satisfied with Russian energy cooperation,” he added in a message accompanying a photo showing him in St. Petersburg with the Russian giant’s chairman, Alexei Miller.
Dependence on Russia
Hungary, with no access to the sea, is almost exclusively dependent on Russian natural gas. Most deliveries come via the TurkStream natural gas pipeline and its extension, Balkan Stream, under the Black Sea to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.
The rest come from a natural gas pipeline that runs through Ukraine. However Kiev has announced its intention not to renew the transit contract linking it until December 31 with Russia.
The Ukraine it also blocks the deliveries of the Loukoïl group, which supplies through the Druzhba gas pipeline a third of Hungarian oil imports. An “unacceptable decision”, which was strongly denounced by Budapest this summer.
Hungary, the only EU member state to remain a close ally of Moscow despite the war in Ukraine, he frequently criticizes sanctions against Russia while blocking military aid to Kiev.
In early July, Prime Minister Viktor Oban sparked outrage by meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow without consulting his partners, as Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union for the current six months.
Peter Szijjártó, who was honored at the end of 2021 with the Medal of the Order of Friendship by his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, has traveled to Russia ten times since the conflict in Ukraine began.
Source: AMPE