Hungary signs new energy agreements with Russia

The head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry claims that access to Russian energy resources is decisive for the security of Hungary.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijarto during his visit to Moscow announced new agreements to ensure the country’s permanent access to Russian energy resources.

According to The Guardian, Siyarto met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Alexander Novak and Alexei Likhachev, executive director of the Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom.

Speaking during a briefing after the meetings, he stressed that access to Russian energy resources is crucial for Hungary’s security, regardless of political considerations.

“As long as the issue of energy supply is physical and not political or ideological, like it or not, Russia and cooperation with Russia will remain key to Hungary’s energy security,” he said.

The Foreign Minister announced that Gazprom would retain the option to supply additional gas to Hungary this year, in addition to supplies agreed under the long-term agreement. In addition, the price of gas that will be supplied to Hungary through the Turkish Stream pipeline will be limited to 150 euros per cubic meter.

Hungary and Russia – what you need to know

Hungary is one of the countries that refuse to criticize the Russian military-political leadership of the Russian Federation because of the bloody war of conquest unleashed against Ukraine. The country also refuses to supply Ukraine with weapons to counter Russian aggression and lobbies for the aggressor to be released from any sanctions on gas, oil or nuclear fuel, threatening to veto EU decisions. The country has also achieved its exclusion from sanctions on the supply of energy resources and nuclear fuel.

The day before, Russia added Hungary to its list of “unfriendly countries” for participating in pan-European sanctions . However, this did not prevent Foreign Minister Siyarto from making his third visit to Russia during the full-scale war in Ukraine in order to agree on the supply of energy resources.

(C)UNIAN 2023